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PRINCIPLES    AND     METHODS 
IN  COMMERCIAL  EDUCATION 


•The 


THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY 

NEW  YORK    •    BOSTON   •    CHICAGO    •    DALLAS 
ATLANTA   ■    SAN    FRANCISCO 

MACMILLAN  &  CO.,  Limited 

LONDON  •  BOMBAY  •  CALCUTTA 
MELBOURNE 

THE  MACMILLAN  CO.  OF  CANADA,  Ltd. 

TORONTO  * 


PRINCIPLES   AND   METHODS 
IN   COMMERCIAL  EDUCATION 

A  TEXT-BOOK  FOR  TEACHERS,  STUDENTS 
AND   BUSINESS   MEN 


BY 
-Z  73(^7 
JOSEPH   KAHN,   Ph.D.,   LL.B. 

INSTRUCTOR,    NEW   YORK    UNIVERSITY   GRADUATE   SCHOOL   AND    HIGH 

SCHOOL  OF  COMMERCE;   LECTURER  ON  PRINCIPLES  AND    METHODS 

IN   COMMERCIAL   EDUCATION,    EXTENSION    DIVISION 

COLLEGE  OF  THE  CITY   OF   NEW  YORK 

AND 

JOSEPH  J.   KLEIN,   Ph.D.,   C.P.A. 

PRESIDENT,    NATIONAL   BUSINESS    INSTITUTE,  -.LECTURER   ON    PRINCIPLES 
AND    METHODS    IN   COMMERCIAL   EDUCATION,   EXTENSION    DIVI- 
SION,  COLLEGE  OF  THE  CITY  OF   NEW  YORK;    AUTHOR 
"ELEMENTS  OF  ACCOUNTING" 


THE    MACMILLAN   COMPANY 
1914 

All  rights  reserved 


Copyright,  1914, 
By  the   MACMILLAN   COMP^^^J. 


Set  up  and  electrotyped.     Published  October,  1914. 


NnriDoolJ  ^twa 

J.  S.  Gushing  Co.  —  ]5er\vick  &  Smith  Co. 

Norwood,  Mass.,  U.S.A. 


;  /  (^^ 


PREFACE 

The  occasion  of  the  publication  of  a  pioneer  work  on  the 
subject  of  Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 
makes  it  appropriate  to  review  the  progress  in  the  field  of 
education  which  has  made  this  work  necessary.  The  rapid 
development  of  commercial  education  within  the  past  fifteen 
years,  which  has  been  marked  by  the  establishment  of  sec- 
ondary and  higher  schools  of  commerce,  has  not  only  enlarged 
the  concept  of  business  education  beyond  the  clerical  aim  of 
the  old-time  business  college,  but  has  also  given  rise  to  the 
need  for  properly  trained  teachers  in  commercial  schools. 
The  demand  is  for  teachers  who,  besides  being  masters  of 
their  subject,  are  acquainted  with  the  principles  and  methods 
of  their  specialty  and  have  the  ability  to  apply  these  princi- 
ples in  the  class-room.  While  facilities  for  training  persons 
for  the  higher  branches  of  business  have  been  established  by 
universities,  and  while  the  literature  dealing  with  this  phase 
is  considerable,  it  is  strange  that  practically  nothing  has  been 
done  thus  far  to  give  prospective  teachers  the  pedagogical 
foundation  without  which  the  mastery  of  the  subject  alone 
is  inadequate  to  fit  them  for  the  highest  attainment  in  their 
profession.  The  universities  have  sadly  neglected  the  oppor- 
tunity to  offer  normal  training  to  commercial  teachers,  and 
the  lack  of  literature  on  methodology  is  a  distinct  reflection 
of  this  neglect. 

Within  the  past  few  years  the  demand  for  the  close  corre- 
lation of  theory  and  practice  in  commercial  education  has 
given  rise  to  experiments  intended  to  bring  the  work  of  the 


vi  Preface 

school  in  close  relation  to  the  business  community.  Accord- 
ingly, in  several  localities  cooperative  and  continuation  plans 
of  apprenticeship  have  been  established,  the  purpose  of  which 
is  either  to  give  students  laboratory  work  as  apprentices  while 
they  are  studying,  or  else  to  give  apprentices  who  are  at  work 
the  theoretical  educational  foundation  necessary  to  lead  them 
to  advancement  in  their  vocation.  The  working  out  of  this 
plan  of  cooperation  necessitates  an  understanding  on  the  part 
of  the  school  authorities  of  the  needs  of  business  and,  on  the 
other  hand,  a  familiarity  by  the  business  man  with  the  aim  of 
the  work  of  the  school.  If  the  commercial  world  is  to  benefit 
by  the  speciahzed  training  given  in  the  school,  the  business 
man  must  become  better  acquainted  with  the  aim,  the  value, 
and  the  methods  employed  in  a  business  education. 

This  work,  then,  is  intended  to  give  the  teacher  in  the 
commercial  school  the  broad  vocational  outlook  upon  his  sub- 
ject, to  acquaint  him  with  the  pedagogical  principles  under- 
lying it,  and  to  discuss  the  special  methods  in  the  different 
subjects  included  in  the  curriculum.  To  the  business  man 
the  book  is  intended  to  convey  a  knowledge  of  the  value  and 
content  of  a  business  education,  to  give  him  a  sympathetic 
view  of  the  work  of  the  school,  and  a  better  understanding 
of  the  needs  of  it,  so  as  to  enable  him  to  cooperate  with  it  in 
a  direction  which  will  be  of  benefit  both  to  the  school  and  to 
the  community  at  large. 

While  several  contributions  have  been  made  to  the  litera- 
ture dealing  with  the  content  and  history  of  commercial  edu- 
cation, notably  by  President  Cheesman  A.  Herrick  and  by 
President  Edmund  J  James,  there  has  been  a  strange  neglect 
of  the  pedagogy  of  the  subject;  and  this  in  a  field  in  which 
the  lack  of  trained  teachers  is  probably  greater  than  in  any 
other.  The  authors,  therefore,  feel  that  the  publication  of 
this  pioneer  work  on  Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial 


Preface  vii 

Education  meets  a  timely  want,  and  that  it  will  help  to  raise 
the  standard  of  the  commercial  teacher  and  give  the  business 
man  an  appreciation  of  the  value  of  a  theoretical  education 
in  correlation  with  practical  work. 

The  authors  have  confined  themselves  largely  to  the  con- 
sideration of  commercial  education  in  secondary  schools, 
because  in  these  pedagogic  training  is  most  urgent.  As  the 
higher  schools  are  of  a  professional  or  special  character,  and 
as  the  students  in  these  schools  are  older,  the  lack  of  good 
method  is  not  so  disastrous  as  in  the  case  of  younger  pupils. 
Outline  lessons  and  syllabi  have  been  given  in  several  in- 
stances as  illustrative  of  the  application  of  the  principles  dis- 
cussed, and  particularly  in  subjects  in  which  the  text-book  is 
not  a  sufficient  guide  for  the  proper  sequence  of  topics  or  for 
the  method  of  the  recitation. 

The  authors  beg  to  acknowledge  their  indebtedness  to  Dr. 
John  L.  Tildsley,  Principal  of  the  New  York  High  School  of 
Commerce,  for  permission  to  use  his  syllabi  in  Local  Indus- 
tries, Municipal  Activities,  and  Economics.  As  far  as  we 
know,  Dr.  Tildsley  was  the  first  teacher  to  develop  a  practical 
syllabus  in  the  former  two  subjects,  and  the  first  one  to  apply 
the  principle  that  the  study  of  commercial  geography  should 
begin  with  the  industries  of  the  immediate  locality,  and  that 
the  study  of  civics  should  be  made  practical  by  including  not 
only  the  political,  but  the  economic  activities  of  the  immediate 
environment  of  the  pupil.  These  syllabi  were  developed 
by  Dr.  Tildsley  while  he  was  chairman  of  the  Department 
of  Economics  of  the  school,  with  some  modifications  by  the 
teachers  of  his  department.  On  the  practical  value  of  alge- 
bra in  commercial  arithmetic  we  desire  to  make  recognition 
of  the  work  of  Mr.  W.  S.  Schlauch,  of  the  High  School  of 
Commerce,  whose  book  on  Commercial  Algebra  is  in  prepa- 
ration. 


viii  Preface 

Finally,  it  is  the  hope  of  the  authors  that  this  work  will  aid 
university  schools  of  pedagogy  and  normal  schools  to  realize 
the  importance  of  devoting  more  attention  to  the  training  of 
efficient  teachers  in  the  field  of  commercial  education. 

THE   AUTHORS. 

New  York, 
October  21,  1914. 


TABLE   OF    CONTENTS 

PART   ONE 
PRINCIPLES   OF   COMMERCIAL   EDUCATION 

CHAPTER   I 

THE   ESSENTIALS   AND   VALUE   OF   A   BUSINESS 
EDUCATION 

PAGE 

Introduction  —  Content  of  a  Business  Education  :  Language  ; 
Mathematics :  Commercial  Arithmetic,  Algebra,  Plane 
Geometry;  Bookkeeping  and  Accounting;  Business  Prac- 
tice and  Office  Routine;  Stenography  and  Typewriting; 
Science  :  Biology,  Chemistry,  Physics  ;  Technique  of  Com- 
merce ;  Economics ;  Commercial  Geography ;  History ; 
Civics  ;  Commercial  Law ;  Other  Subjects  —  Disciplinary 
Phase  of  Business  Education :  Intellectual  Training :  Ob- 
servation, Judgment,  Reasoning,  Imagination ;  ^Esthetic 
Training  ;  Training  of  the  Will  —  Summary  —  Exercises  — 
Bibliography 1-48 

CHAPTER   II 

THE   COURSE   OF   STUDY   OF   THE   SECONDARY 
COMMERCIAL   SCHOOL 

The  Problem  —  Course  of  Study  —  Principles  upon  which  Elec- 
tives  are  offered  —  Explanatory  Remarks  on  the  Subjects 
of  the  Course  :  English  ;  Foreign  Languages  ;  Mathematics  ; 
Industrial  Biology;  Industrial  Chemistry;  Physics;  His- 
tory; Commercial  Subjects;  Industries  and  Commerce  of 
City ;  Municipal  Activities  ;  Commercial  Geography  ;  Com- 
mercial Arithmetic ;  Business  Technique ;  Bookkeeping 
and  Office  Practice  ;  Accounting ;  Economics  ;  Technique 
of  Commerce  and  Industry ;  Commercial  Law ;  Drawing 
and  Illustrating  ;  Stenography  and  Typewriting ;  Practicum 
—  Summary  —  Exercises  —  Bibliography      ....         49-^9 


X  Table  of  Contents 

CHAPTER   III 
GENERAL   PRINCIPLES   OF   METHOD 

PAGE 

Teaching  of  Commercial  Subjects  —  Teacher's  Knowledge  of 
the  Subject  —  Principles  of  Teaching:  Principle  of  Self- 
Activity  ;  Interest  and  Purpose ;  Apperception ;  proceeding 
from  Concrete  to  Abstract  and  from  Known  to  Unknown; 
Drill  and  Principles  of  Habit  Formation ;  Formal  Steps  of 
Recitation;  Individual  Instruction  and  its  Limitations  — 
Summary  —  Exercises  —  Bibliography  ....         70-90 

PART   TWO 

SPECIAL   METHODS   IN    COMMERCIAL 
EDUCATION 

CHAPTER   IV 

BUSINESS   ARITHMETIC 

Importance  and  Difficulties  —  Probable  Causes  of  Failure :  Ele- 
mentary School  Curriculum  too  Broad  ;  Lack  of  Practical 
Work  on  Child's  Level  of  Experience;  Insufficient  Drill  — 
Remedies :  Limit  Ground  to  be  covered  in  School  (Mc- 
Murry's  Rules  for  Elimination);  Perfection  in  Skill  — 
Development  of  Arithmetical  Skill :  Transfer  of  Skill  from 
Drills  to  Practical  Problems ;  Interesting  Drills ;  Speed 
and  Accuracy  ;  Short  Cuts  —  Artificial  Aids  to  Calculation 
—  Application  of  Algebra  to  Arithmetic — Applied  Busi- 
ness Problems  —  Topics  in  Arithmetic :  Percentage  ;  Profit 
and  Loss ;  Commission ;  Trade  Discount ;  Interest ;  Bank 
Discount ;  Stocks  and  Bonds ;  Partial  Payments ;  Com- 
pound Interest;  Taxes  and  Duties;  Foreign  Exchange  — 
The  Course  of  Study — Special  Methods:  Subdivision  of 
Difficulties  ;  Blackboard ;  Oral  Work  ;  Diagrams  ;  Text- 
book ;  Teacher's  Notebook;  Examinations — Model  Les- 
son: Interest  —  Summary  —  Exercises  —  Bibliography         .       91-128 


Table  oj  Contents  xi 

CHAPTER   V 
OFFICE    PRACTICE   AND   ROUTINE 

PAGE 

Pedagogical  Basis  —  Penmanship  :  Legibility  and  Speed ;  Free- 
arm  Movement ;  Training  of  Teacher ;  Methods  of  Instruc- 
tion—  Business  Forms  :  Reasons  for  Including  during  First 
Year  —  Topics  :  Checks  ;  Notes  and  Drafts  —  "  Budget " 
or  "Voucher"  System  of  Bookkeeping  —  Office  Routine: 
Aim  of  Course  —  Topics  —  Filing  Systems  —  Practice  Office 

—  Summary  —  Exercises  —  Bibliography     ....     129-150 

CHAPTER   VI 
BOOKKEEPING 

Pedagogical  Basis  — Place  in  Course — Literature  —  Aim  of 
Course  —  The  Teacher  —  The  Text-book  —  Model  Lessons: 
First  Lesson  in  Bookkeeping ;  Proprietor's  Account ;  Per- 
sonal Accounts  ;  Trial  Balances  ;  Journal ;  Statements ; 
Formulas ;  Special  Books ;  Extra  Columns ;  Closing  the 
Books ;    Drafts  —  Exercises    in    Constructive    Imagination 

—  Special  Devices  —  Bookkeeping  Ethics  —  Notes  on 
Method  :  The  Recitation  ;  Home  Preparation  ;  Revievi^s  and 
Quizzes  ;  Examinations  —  Syllabus  —  Summary  —  Exercises 

—  Bibliography 151-200 

CHAPTER   VII 
ACCOUNTING 

Bookkeeping  vs.  Accounting  —  Capital  and  Income  —  Purpose 
of  Course  —  Model  Lessons  :  Balance  Sheet ;  Single  Entry; 
Controlling  Accounts  ;  Cost  Accounts  ;  Installing  Systems  ; 
Auditing — Summary  —  Exercises — Bibliography        .         .     201-226 

CHAPTER   VIII 

COMMERCIAL  GEOGRAPHY 
Place  in  Curriculum  —  Teaching  Difficulties  —  Local  Geography 
— Topics  :  Materials  of  Commerce ;   Physiographic  Condi- 


xii  Table  of  Contents 

PAGE 

tions  influencing  Commerce  ;  Human  Factors  in  Commerce  ; 
General  Geography — Selection  of  Material  for  Study: 
Principles  of  Selection — Organization  of  Knowledge  — 
Aids  :  Text-book ;  Reference  Books  ;  Trips  ;  Museums  ; 
Pictures;  Maps;  Graphs — Methods:  Heuristic;  Inductive; 
Type  ;  Deductive  —  Model  Lessons  :  Cotton  ;  Analysis  and 
Interpretation  of  Statistics  —  Syllabus  in  Local  Industries  — 
Summary  —  Exercises  —  Bibliography  ....     227-270 

CHAPTER   IX 
TECHNIQUE    OF    COMMERCE 

Aim  of  Course  —  Distinguished  from  Commercial  Geography  — 
Difficulties  of  Subject  —  Topics  :  Manufacturing  ;  Prep- 
aration for  Market ;  Transportation  ;  Marketing  Product ; 
Exchange  —  Economic  Activities  of  the  Government  —  Syl- 
labus in  Municipal  Activities  —  Summary  —  Exercises  — 
Bibliography    ...  271-285 

CHAPTER  X 
HISTORY   OF   COMMERCE 

Taught  by  History  Department  —  Historical  Method  —  Aim  of 
the  Course  —  Selection  of  Topics  —  Methods:  Text-book; 
Topical ;  Source  ;  Combined  —  General  Method  in  History 

—  Teaching  Aids  :  Maps  ;  Trips  ;  Pictures ;  Charts  ;  Note- 
books ;   Library — Summary  —  Exercises  —  Bibliography     .     286-299 

CHAPTER  XI 

COMMERCIAL   LAW 

Teaching  Faults — Aim  of  Course:  Utility;  Culture;  Discipline; 
Correlation  —  Topics:  Three-fold  Division  —  Introductory 
Subjects  —  Methods:  General;  Text-book  Method;  Case 
Method  —  Teaching  Aids  —  Reviews  and  Examinations  — 
Research  —  Teacher's  Library  —  Model  Lessons  :  Statute  of 
Frauds ;   Real  Property  vs.  Personal  Property  —  Summary 

—  Exercises  —  Bibliography 300-343 


Table  of  Contents  xiii 

CHAPTER  XII 
ECONOMICS 

PAGE 

Aim  of  Course  —  Difficulties  —  Topics  —  Methods  :  Type  ;  His- 
torical ;    Seminar  —  Drill  —  Graphs  —  Syllabus  —  Summary 

—  Exercises  —  Bibliography 344-364 

CHAPTER   XIII 

BUSINESS   ENGLISH 

Importance  —  Spelling  —  Grammar  and  Rhetoric  —  Composition 
Work  —  Aids  in  Composition  —  Letter  Writing  —  Reports 

—  Advertisements  —  Correction  of  Students'  Work  —  Sum- 
mary —  Exercises  —  Bibliography 365-383 

CHAPTER   XIV 

STENOGRAPHY   AND   TYPEWRITING 

Value  of  Stenography  :  Utility  ;  Discipline  ;  Correlation  —  Aim 
of  Course  —  Methods  in  Stenography  —  Faults  :  Suggestions 
for  Improvement  —  Methods  in  Typewriting  —  Summary  — 
Exercises  —  Bibliography 384-400 


PART   THREE 
SPECIAL   PROBLEMS   IN   COMMERCIAL   EDUCATION 

CHAPTER   XV 

THE   PREPARATION   AND   EQUIPMENT   OF   THE 
COMMERCIAL   TEACHER 

Need  of  Trained  Teachers  —  Development  of  Commercial 
Teaching  —  Teacher's  Training:  College  Education;  Cor- 
respondence Instruction ;  Practical  Experience ;  Mastery 
of  Many  Subjects  —  Summary  —  Exercises  —  Bibliog- 
raphy  401-415 


xiv  ■  Table  oj  Contents 

CHAPTER  XVI 

RELATION  OF  THE  SECONDARY  SCHOOL  TO 
THE  HIGH  SCHOOL  OF  COMMERCE  AND 
TO   THE    BUSINESS   COMMUNITY 

PAGE 

Articulation  —  Vocational  vs.  Prevocational  Training  —  High 
Schools  and  Universities — Relation  of  High  School  to 
Business  Community  —  Cooperation  —  Continuation  Study 
—  The  Fitchburg  Plan  —  Summary  —  Exercises  —  Bibli- 
ography            416-433 


PRINCIPLES    AND     METHODS 
IN  COMMERCIAL  EDUCATION 


PRINCIPLES  AND  METHODS  IN 
COMMERCIAL  EDUCATION 

PART  ONE 

PRINCIPLES   OF   COMMERCIAL   EDUCATION 

CHAPTER   I 

2  7367 
The  Essentials  and  Value  of  a  Business  Education 

introduction 

The  consideration  of  the  subject  of  education  for  business 
at  once  suggests  an  inquiry  as  to  the  why  and  the  wherefore 
of  such  education.  For  it  is  a  view  still  held  by  many  that 
there  is  no  necessity  for  vocational  training  for  commercial 
life  in  school,  and  that  the  proper  way  to  learn  business  is  to 
do  so  by  entering  business  and  starting  at  the  bottom. 

They  hold  that  a  scholastic  education  beyond  the  elemen- 
tary course  unfits  a  man  for  participation  in  industrial  life, 
and  they  fortify  their  assertions  by  pointing  to  examples  of 
self-made  men,  —  men  of  limited  education  or  none  at  all. 

An  analysis  of  those  examples  will  show  that  these  self- 
made  men  have  succeeded  not  because  of  their  lack  of  scholar- 
ship, but  because  they  made  up  for  that  lack  by  self-educa- 
tion in  the  school  of  experience,  —  a  course  which  developed 
not  only  their  practical  qualities,  but  trained  their  power  of 


2        Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

observation,  their  judgment,  their  imagination,  and  their 
reasoning  powers.  And  though  measured  in  terms  of  dollars 
and  cents  these  men  were  successful,  yet,  owing  to  their  defi- 
cient education,  they  still  lack  the  capacity  for  the  apprehen- 
sion of  those  finer  elements  of  Hf e  which  constitute  the  spiritual 
inheritance  of  the  race,  and  the  appreciation  of  which  makes 
life  richer  and  more  significant. 

However,  confining  our  attention  to  the  success  which 
these  men  have  achieved  in  business  without  a  scholastic 
education,  we  may  ask  why  others  cannot  do  the  same.  Some 
of  the  self-made  men  possessed  that  genius  for  business  which 
was  able  to  triumph  against  obstacles  by  obtaining  a  practical 
education  by  self-directed  effort.  Others  of  that  class  might 
have  been  more  successful  if  their  practical  native  talent 
had  the  benefit  of  educational  stimulus  and  direction. 

But  at  any  rate,  the  education  of  the  vast  majority  of  men 
must  be  directed  by  the  school.  It  is  the  one  man  in  a  genera- 
tion who,  like  Pascal,  can  discover  by  his  unaided  effort  and 
without  suggestion  from  books,  the  theorems  of  Euclid.  And 
even  the  progress  of  such  a  man  is  greatly  accelerated  by  the 
direction  of  the  master.  The  apprentice  system  in  business 
is  rapidly  yielding  to  special  educational  preparation,  just  as 
the  apprentice  system  in  law  and  medicine  has  yielded  to 
university  training.  So  we  may  expect  that  the  higher  prep- 
aration for  business  will  soon  rise  to  the  dignity  of  profes- 
sional training. 

After  we  have  decided  that  education  is  not  only  a  help,  but 
also  a  necessity  to  the  business  man,  we  still  have  to  answer 
the  question  what  kind  of  education  we  shall  give  and  what 
elements  we  shall  include  in  it.  To  do  this  we  must  consider 
briefly  some  conceptions  of  the  meaning  of  education,  and  try 
to  deduce  from  these  the  essentials  of  a  business  education. 


Essentials  and  Value  of  Business  Education  3 

The  aim  of  education  is  fundamentally  a  sociological  one. 
It  is  to  prepare  the  individual  to  take  his  place  in  the  civil- 
ization in  which  he  lives,  and  to  participate  in  its  activities. 
The  relations  of  man  to  his  environment  are  many-sided, 
including  not  only  his  relations  to  the  world  of  nature  about 
him,  but  to  society  at  large,  to  the  state,  and  to  the  church. 
Our  systems  of  education  aim  to  give  the  student  the  ability  to 
adjust  himself  to  every  phase  of  his  environment,  and  this  is 
the  meaning  of  Spencer's  definition  of  education  as  the  prep- 
aration for  complete  living. 

Now  society  is  so  constituted  that  every  member  of  it, 
after  he  has  passed  his  formative  period,  takes  up  a  certain 
phase  of  its  activity,  which  constitutes  his  vocation.  One  of 
the  important  needs  of  the  individual  is  therefore  preparation 
to  perform  his  vocational  tasks  efficiently,  because  they 
constitute  the  largest  part  of  his  work  in  Hfe.  This  prepara- 
tion is  sometimes  left  to  the  individual  himself  to  get  it  by 
chance,  sometimes  it  is  accomplished  by  placing  him  in  his 
industrial  environment  when  he  is  still  unfamiHar  with  it, 
and  helping  him  at  first  to  master  the  difficulties  as  they  come, 
until  he  is  able  to  help  himself.  The  latter  is  the  apprentice 
system.  But  for  the  higher  vocations,  those  which  demand  the 
exercise  of  the  highest  powers  of  the  mind,  experience  has  shown 
that  preparation  cannot  be  left  to  chance  or  to  an  apprentice 
system,  but  that  it  requires  an  extended  period  of  special 
theoretical  and  practical  education.  The  professions  have 
long  been  in  this  class,  and  now  the  necessity  for  such  special 
preparation  for  business  has  become  more  and  more  evident. 
Thus  we  get  the  rationale  of  the  special  school  of  commerce. 

But  now  arises  another  question.  At  what  stage  shall 
specialization  begin,  to  what  degree  shall  it  be  carried,  and 
to  what  extent  shall  it  include  general  education  ?    We  realize 


4        Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

of  course  that  specialization  cannot  be  commenced  before  a 
general  foundation  has  been  laid.  The  elementary  school 
course  is  a  minimum,  and  ought  to  be  such  for  all  persons  of 
whatever  walk  in  life.  For  professional  education  a  larger 
foundation  than  this  is  necessary.  And  so  the  secondary 
school  course,  and  sometimes  the  college  course,  are  necessary 
to  lay  the  broad  basis  for  general  culture  requisite  for  the 
success  of  the  professional  man. 

Specialization  for  business  ought  to  begin  in  the  high  school 
period,  because  commerce  does  not  require  technical  pro- 
ficiency of  such  large  extent  as  the  professions,  and  because 
the  pursuit  of  general  culture  can  conveniently  go  hand  in 
hand  with  the  study  of  technical  commercial  subjects,  with 
decided  benefit  to  the  latter.  For  this  reason,  in  considering 
the  subject  of  the  essentials  of  a  business  education,  we  do  so 
on  the  presupposition  that  the  student  has  an  elementary 
education  and  that  the  study  of  business  subjects  is  to  be  a  part 
of  the  high  school  course.  Higher  and  narrower  specialization 
is  in  place  only  in  the  university  school  of  commerce,  when  the 
student  with  the  aid  of  his  practical  experience  has  decided 
in  what  particular  field  or  business  he  will  make  his  object 
of  special  endeavor  to  excel.  This  phase  of  commercial  educa- 
tion we  will  only  notice  incidentally  to  the  main  object  of  this 
work,  —  the  aims  and  methods  of  the  commercial  high  school. 
.V  A  few  words  will  not  be  out  of  place  in  connection  with  the 
reason  why  general  culture  ought  to  go  hand  in  hand  with 
special  commercial  training.  Life  is  many-sided,  and  business 
is  only  one  side  of  it.  The  man  who  finds  himself  in  place 
only  in  business  is  narrow  and  unappreciative  of  the  larger 
and  spiritual  phases  of  life.  When  he  is  away  from  his  office 
or  retires  from  commercial  activity,  life  becomes  empty  and 
without  significance  to  him.     In  other  words,  he  has  failed 


Essentials  and  Value,  of  Business  Education  5 

to  learn  how  to  enjoy  his  leisure.  A  rounded  education  gives 
the  man  a  proper  sense  of  proportion  of  the  relative  value  of 
things,  and  impresses  him  with  the  relation  of  his  special 
activity  in  life  with  that  of  society  at  large. 

The  elementary  curriculum,  even  in  its  small  way,  opens 
the  mind  of  the  individual  to  a  many-sided  view  of  the  world. 
The  secondary  school  course  makes  this  view  more  vivid  and 
unified.  And  in  the  specialized  commercial  course  it  singles 
out  certain  parts  of  the  picture  for  closer  observation,  while 
the  rest  of  it  acts  as  a  background  to  bring  these  parts  out  in 
closer  rehef. 

We  shall  now  consider  what  the  subjects  of  the  business 
course  ought  to  be,  and  how  they  can  help  to  develop  all  the 
faculties  of  man. 

CONTENT   OF   A   BUSINESS   EDUCATION 
I.    LANGUAGE 

We  know  that  business  involves  the  social  activities  of 
man  and  his  relation  to  other  men.  Such  relation  is  expressed 
through  language.  It  becomes  at  once  evident  that  the 
mastery  of  the  vehicle  of  expression  becomes  the  most  impor- 
tant accomplishment  of  the  business  man,  and,  in  fact,  the 
highest  possession  of  all  men.  The  requirements  of  clearness, 
accuracy,  and  force  are  essential  in  business  language,  and  the 
school  properly  provides  an  important  place  in  the  curriculum 
for  it. 

In  view  of  the  fact  that  commercial  relations  are  conducted 
on  such  a  large  scale  and,  to  a  great  extent,  at  a  distance, 
language  becomes  particularly  important  as  a  written  instru- 
ment. Among  the  expressions  of  language  which  the  student 
must  learn  to  make  use  of  are  letters  and  telegrams,  abstracts 


6        Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

and  condensations,  reports,  and  advertisements.  There  are 
also  those  technical  forms  which  are  used  in  mercantile  pro- 
cedure, and  which,  because  they  facilitate  the  conduct  of 
business,  have  been  adopted  universally.  Form,  arrangement, 
and  technical  expressions  are  of  considerable  importance,  as 
well  as  content.  Acquaintance  with  model  forms  is  therefore 
prerequisite  to  the  production  of  good  forms. 

The  question  whether  the  knowledge  of  a  foreign  language 
is  an  essential  of  the  education  of  a  business  man  is  not  always 
easy  to  answer.  It  depends  upon  local  conditions  and  upon 
the  length  of  time  that  is  devoted  to  its  study.  If  the  cur- 
riculum does  not  allow  three  years'  work  in  the  language,  it 
had  better  not  be  taken  up  at  all.  It  is  well  to  provide  in 
the  course  for  an  alternative  between  commercial  German  and 
commercial  Spanish.  If  the  student  contemplates  entering  a 
commercial  house  which  is  engaged  in  foreign  trade,  the  utility 
of  the  study  will  at  once  be  apparent.  And  even  if  he  has  no 
such  present  intention,  he  will  be  possessed  of  an  additional 
qualification  which  will  enhance  his  chances  of  employment  in 
a  branch  of  business,  that  contributes  so  largely  to  the  total 
volume  of  commerce. 

Besides,  the  study  of  a  foreign  language  is  of  general  utility 
in  thus  giving  us  a  better  understanding  of  the  structure  of 
our  own. 

II.    MATHEMATICS 

{a)  Commercial  Arithmetic.  —  The  classification  of  com- 
mercial arithmetic  under  mathematics  is  only  a  matter  of 
convenience.  Mathematics  is  the  science  of  quantity,  and 
arithmetic  is  one  of  the  subdivisions  of  it.  But  business 
arithmetic  is  studied  primarily  not  for  the  attainment  of  scien- 
tific principles  and  method,  but  for  its  strictly  utihtarian  value. 


Essentials  and  Value  of  Business  Education  7 

All  business  deals  with  wealth,,  —  its  production,  exchange, 
and  distribution.  The  art  of  measuring  such  wealth  is  there- 
fore of  prime  importance  for  the  prosecution  of  all  enterprise. 
It  is  an  essential  part  of  all  business  education  to  impart  a 
knowledge  of  how  to  measure  value  under  the  various  condi- 
tions in  which  it  is  found,  and  to  give  the  abihty  to  do  this 
accurately  and  quickly.  The  intelhgent  solution  of  practical 
business  problems  is  also  very  valuable  in  reenforcing  the 
student's  knowledge  of  business  processes.  Thus,  for  ex- 
ample, the  problems  in  bank  discount  will  throw  Hght  upon 
banking  procedure,  and  the  problems  in  commission  will  help 
to  explain  the  relation  between  principal  and  agent.  Not 
that  arithmetic  is  the  main  vehicle  by  which  an  understanding 
of  business  processes  is  brought  about,  but  it  furnishes  very 
striking  illustrations  of  the  value  of  correlating  arithmetic 
with  actual  business  practice,  and  vice  versa. 

(b)  Algebra.  —  This  important  branch  is  the  foundation  of 
mathematical  reasoning,  because  it  furnishes  the  language 
which  higher  mathematics  must  make  use  of  as  its  vehicle  of 
expression.  From  a  scientific  point  of  view  arithmetic  is 
only  a  particular  form  of  algebra.  Now  the  justification  for 
including  the  subject  in  the  commercial  curriculum  lies  in 
more  than  its  value  as  a  means  of  mental  training.  It  has  a 
distinct  utilitarian  value.  Algebra  furnishes  a  beautiful  and 
concise  method  of  expressing  symbohcally  a  quantitative 
process  in  a  formula  which  comprehends  all  possible  particular 
manifestations  of  that  process.  The  use  of  formulas  is  an 
important  aid  to  the  understanding  of  accounting,  of  chem- 
istry, and  of  physics.  And  besides,  algebra  furnishes  such 
easy  and  clear  methods  of  solving  practical  problems  that  are 
difficult  or  impossible  of  solution  by  arithmetic,  that  on  the 
whole  we  are  not  only  justified  in  including  it  in  the  cur- 


8        Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

riculum,  but  impelled  to  do  so  by  the  strongest  practical 
arguments. 

(c)  Plane  Geometry.  —  It  is  with  some  misgiving  that  we 
include  geometry  in  the  course;  for  it  has  practically  no  utili- 
tarian value  for  the  business  man.  If  it  were  a  question  be- 
tween geometry  and  a  foreign  language,  we  would  certainly 
prefer  the  latter.  As  it  is,  geometry  is  made  elective  with 
stenography. 

Of  course  it  is  true  that  geometry  teaches  us  the  properties 
of  space.  But  then  it  shows  not  only  what  they  are,  but  why 
they  must  necessarily  be  so.  The  extensive  use  of  deductive 
reasoning  is  valuable  as  training  in  logical  thinking.  This  is 
the  main  justification  for  making  geometry  a  part  of  the 
curriculum.  As  to  the  properties  of  space,  we  get  these  in  the 
geometric  formulas  we  employ  in  industrial  arithmetic,  al- 
though the  strict  scientific  explanation  of  them  is  only  ob- 
tained by  the  study  of  synthetic  geometry.  It  may  be  added, 
also,  that  geometry  is  the  subject  par  excellence  in  the  second- 
ary curriculum,  which  demands  strict  and  concise  definition, 
close  deduction  from  premises,  and  clear  scientific  expression. 
The  elimination  of  the  subject  might  therefore  prove  an  un- 
replaceable  loss. 

III.    BOOKKEEPING  AND  ACCOUNTING 

One  of  the  greatest  inventions  of  the  human  race  has 
been  the  means  of  fixing  facts  and  events  after  they  have 
passed  from  our  view.  Writing  performs  this  function. 
But  the  pioneers  of  commerce  discovered  a  more  concise 
and  systematic  method  of  preserving  a  record  of  business 
than  the  narrative  form.  Thus  bookkeeping  originated,  and 
while  its  fundamental  basis  has  remained  the  same,  the 
science  of  accounts  and  the  complex  requirements  of  modem 


Essentials  and  Valtie  of  Business  Education  g 

commerce  have  devised  improvements  in  comprehensiveness 
and  detail. 

The  study  of  bookkeeping  performs  the  important  function 
of  teaching  the  student  how  to  keep  that  systematic  record  of 
the  business,  which  is  so  essential  to  its  success.  And  even 
if  his  future  work  should  consist  in  managing  instead  of  re- 
cording business,  the  study  will  give  him  the  ability  to  judge 
whether  the  work  of  his  bookkeeper  is  being  performed  effi- 
ciently and  honestly.  The  two  things  he  should  be  able  to 
find  out  about,  —  and  they  are  the  two  aims  of  bookkeeping, 
—  are,  (i)  How  does  the  business  stand  ?  and  (2)  What  prog- 
ress has  it  made  since  the  last  period  of  inspection? 

The  ordinary  routine  bookkeeper  perhaps  does  not  realize 
the  great  possibilities  of  his  work.  It  is  the  accountant  who 
has  opened  the  eyes  of  the  business  world  to  the  possibilities 
of  a  set  of  accounts  in  telling  the  story  of  success  or  failure, 
and  in  suggesting  improvements  and  economies. 

This  stimulation  of  the  imagination  and  awakening  of  the 
reason  by  means  of  the  subject  make  the  elementary  study  of 
the  science  of  accounting  a  necessity  even  in  a  secondary 
school.  The  relation  between  the  bookkeeper  and  the  ac- 
countant is  the  same  as  that  between  the  mechanic  and  the 
engineer.  The  former  does  the  task  allotted  to  him,  and 
generally  does  it  well,  but  his  activities  have  to  be  directed. 
He  moves  in  the  same  groove,  and  there  is  no  originality  in 
him.  The  accountant,  on  the  other  hand,  corresponds  to 
the  engineer,  —  the  mind  that  plans  and  directs. 

We  want  our  bookkeepers  to  have  some  of  that  engineering 
spirit,  —  that  initiative  which  lifts  them  above  the  dull  dead 
routine;  just  as  we  desire  our  mechanics  to  improve  them- 
selves by  becoming  acquainted  with  some  of  the  theories  of 
their  craft. 


10      Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

Such  theoretical  study  is  not  recommended  because  it  will 
dispense  with  the  accountant.  On  the  contrary,  it  will  render 
the  work  of  the  accountant  more  important  and  more  produc- 
tive to  the  business,  by  enabling  him  to  devote  his  attention  to 
the  larger  phases  of  business,  because  he  will  have  an  intelli- 
gent and  efficient  instrument  in  the  bookkeeper  to  help  carry 
out  his  instructions. 

But  the  good  bookkeeper  is  not  prepared  for  his  task  by 
merely  knowing  arithmetic  and  bookkeeping.  These  are 
only  the  formal  aspects  of  business.  He  must  understand 
business  itself,  —  methods  of  producing,  of  distributing,  etc. 
In  regarding  bookkeeping,  we  may  see  the  twofold  mistake 
which  our  system  of  commercial  education  generally  commits. 
It  is  apt  to  make  a  sharp  distinction  between  the  preparation 
for  carrying  on  business  and  the  preparation  for  recording 
business  itself,  and  as  it  does  not  see  its  way  clear  how  to  pre- 
pare for  the  former,  it  has  left  this  phase  to  the  student  him- 
self to  learn  it  in  contact  with  practical  business.  The  work 
of  the  ordinary  business  school  is  mainly  a  preparation  for 
keeping  a  record  of  business. 

Now  the  mistake  in  making  this  separation  between  the 
carrying  on  of  business  and  the  keeping  of  a  record  of  business 
has  resulted  in  the  establishment  of  a  caste  system.  On  the 
one  hand  no  bookkeeper  can  be  more  than  a  mere  clerk  unless 
he  learns  about  the  nature  of  business  and  the  processes  in- 
volved in  it.  On  the  other  hand,  in  establishing  a  caste  of 
clerks  the  system  has  lost  sight  of  the  importance  of  book- 
keeping to  the  man  who  is  going  to  carry  on  the  business, 
even  though  he  is  not  going  to  keep  books  himself. 

No  man  can  have  a  grasp  of  the  business,  —  no  man  can 
keep  a  check  on  the  work  of  his  subordinates,  unless  he  can 
inspect  the  work  of  his  bookkeeper,  understand  what  he  is 


Essentials  and  Value  of  Business  Education  ii 

doing,  and  interpret  the  progress  of  the  business  from  such 
inspection.  Such  knowledge  will  also  make  him  more  ap- 
preciative of  that  phase  of  the  business,  and  of  the  work  of 
the  accountant. 

It  is  true  that  some  distinction  will  be  made  in  the  educa- 
tion between  the  man  who  is  preparing  for  business  generally, 
and  one  who  is  preparing  for  accounting  in  particular.  But 
this  distinction  will  be  in  the  direction  of  greater  specializa- 
tion by  the  latter. 

IV.    BUSINESS  PRACTICE   AND   OFFICE  ROUTINE 

This  course  is  a  necessary  introduction  to  the  study  of 
bookkeeping.  It  includes  in  the  first  place  the  understanding 
of  the  function  of  the  technical  business  forms  such  as  receipts, 
orders,  bills,  statements  of  account,  checks,  drafts,  notes, 
etc.,  the  use  of  which  makes  the  conduct  of  business  orderly, 
and  the  keeping  track  of  original  records  easy.  This  under- 
standing should  also  include  the  ability  of  the  student  to  draw 
up  these  forms  from  data  furnished  him. 

As  in  actual  business  he  will  have  to  draw  these  up  for 
preservation  as  original  records ;  it  is  important  that  he  write 
them  in  a  legible  and  neat  hand.  Training  in  penmanship  is 
therefore  provided  for  in  the  commercial  course  as  a  pre- 
liminary to  this  work. 

The  work  in  office  routine  ought  to  familiarize  the  student 
with  such  factors  as  the  preparation  of  the  letter  for  mailing, 
postal  laws  and  regulations,  the  use  of  the  copying  press,  and 
filing  systems. 

V.     STENOGRAPHY   AND   TYPEWRITING 

In  the  course  of  the  conduct  of  business,  correspondence 
plays  an  important  part.     A  great  deal  of  its  success  is  de- 


12      Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

pendent  upon  the  efficient,  accurate,  and  neat  manner  in  which 
the  correspondence  is  conducted.  The  complexity  of  the 
volume  of  business  transacted  has  made  increasing  demands 
upon  the  manager's  time  in  connection  with  the  disposal  of 
the  correspondence.  Even  with  the  assistance  of  clerks  this 
part  of  the  work  would  prove  a  great  tax  upon  the  time  and 
energy  of  the  head,  were  it  not  for  the  fact  that  by  the  various 
systems  of  shorthand  the  clerks  are  able  to  take  down  the 
words  of  the  superior  at  about  the  speed  of  ordinary  con- 
versation. In  modern  business  the  stenographer  has  become 
indispensable,  and  in  view  of  the  great  demand,  training 
for  stenography  has  become  perhaps  the  most  important 
object  of  the  ordinary  commercial  school. 

The  question  now  arises,  Is  a  knowledge  of  stenography 
essential  to  a  business  education?  It  is  for  the  one  who  is 
going  to  become  a  stenographer  and  correspondent.  For 
the  person  who  does  not  intend  to  practise  this  branch, 
whose  work  will  consist  in  conducting  rather  than  recording 
business,  the  study  of  stenography  will  be  of  relatively 
little  utility.  We  must  of  course  consider  that  it  gives  a 
valuable  training  in  language,  and  is  of  some  value  in  train- 
ing the  powers  of  observation  and  judgment,  in  training  the 
ear,  and  developing  the  power  of  concentration,  but  on  the 
whole,  these  are  only  incidental  to  the  main  purpose  of  the 
study,  —  the  acquirement  of  technical  proficiency.  Even 
after  the  accomplishment  of  the  object,  this  proficiency  can 
be  retained  only  by  continual  practice.  If  the  student  is 
not  going  to  keep  up  the  practice  in  business,  he  will  lose  that 
proficiency,  the  chief  element  of  which  is  speed,  and  the  many 
hours  which  he  has  devoted  to  the  subject  will  have  been 
largely  wasted.  The  mental  growth  and  stimulus  which 
he  has  obtained  from  the  study  may  remain  with  him,  it  is 


Essentials  and  Value  of  Business  Education  13 

true,  but  it  will  be  slight  compensation  for  the  time  and 
energy  spent  on  the  study,  as  compared  with  the  fruits  to 
be  obtained  by  devoting  the  same  period  and  effort  to  an- 
other subject. 

Now  it  may  be  pertinent  to  inquire  why  the  stenographer 
should  receive  a  general  business  education  at  all,  instead 
of  being  taught  his  specialty  alone,  together  with  a  few  other 
subjects  like  English,  that  are  closely  connected  with  it. 
The  reason  is  that  commercial  life  is  in  need  of  intelligent 
high-grade  stenographers  who  shall  be  more  than  writing 
machines.  The  busy  man  must  rely  upon  his  stenographer 
to  take  some  of  the  burden  of  routine  correspondence  from 
his  shoulders.  The  employee  must  be  competent  to  compose 
a  letter  from  the  brief  directions  given  to  him  by  his  busy 
employer.  This  he  can  do  only  if  he  is  competent  to  take 
an  intelligent  interest  in  the  work  of  the  firm.  And  who 
knows  but  the  stenographer's  position  may  be  a  stepping 
stone  to  work  of  greater  responsibility  and  opportunity,  to 
which  his  previous  good  training  in  school  will  be  a  decided 
help? 

What  has  been  said  about  making  stenography  an  elec- 
tive, also  applies  to  typewriting,  which  is,  of  course,  purely 
a  mechanical  subject.  It  is  an  accomplishment  indispen- 
sable to  the  stenographer.  Its  use  in  business  has  been  a 
great  boon  in  saving  time,  promoting  order  and  neatness, 
and  avoiding  misunderstandings.  Nevertheless,  it  be- 
longs to  the  specialized  business  course,  and  not  to  the  gen- 
eral course.  But  it  must  be  admitted  that  there  are  grounds 
for  the  support  of  the  contention  that  a  knowledge  of  type- 
writing is  of  general  utility,  especially  in  view  of  the  large 
use  to  which  the  typewriter  is  put  in  private  work  outside 
of  business. 


14      Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

VI.    SCIENCE 

We  have  now  considered  that  one  aspect  of  business  that 
deals  with  the  office  where  commerce  is  planned  and  re- 
corded. But  after  all,  this  is  only  one  aspect,  although  an 
important  one,  of  the  world's  industry,  which  deals  with  the 
production,  exchange,  and  distribution  of  goods.  This 
world  of  industry  is  a  large  one,  and  to  be  master  of  it  in  all 
its  details  is  not  even  remotely  within  the  capacity  of  any 
single  mind.  Each  industry  is  specialized,  and  the  attain- 
ment of  skill  in  each  is  a  matter  of  special  education.  But 
there  is  one  point  in  which  commerce  appertains  to  them  all : 
the  products,  in  order  to  be  of  utility,  must  be  distributed  in 
accordance  with  certain  economic  needs  - —  and  those  needs 
will  in  turn  determine  forms  of  production.  Hence,  to  a 
large  extent,  the  requirements  of  commerce  will  regulate  all 
industry  in  the  world.  And  therefore,  while  the  acquirement 
of  the  technique  of  a  trade  or  industry  is  obviously  not 
within  the  scope  of  a  school  of  commerce,  the  question  of 
management,  supervision  of  the  industry  to  the  most  eco- 
nomic advantage,  and  the  technique  of  distribution  of  its 
production  will  still  be  a  most  important  aspect  of  the  com- 
mercial curriculum.  Necessarily  some  knowledge  of  the 
technique  of  the  leading  industries,  even  though  very  super- 
ficial, will  be  of  decided  advantage  in  considering  commercial 
problems. 

We  therefore  provide  the  student  with  the  means  of  becom- 
ing acquainted  with  the  materials  of  commerce  and  processes, 
both  of  nature  and  man,  involved  in  their  production.  To 
understand  the  variety  and  diversification  of  industry  in  the 
interrelation  of  the  factors  involved  in  it,  it  is  necessary  to 
study  it  from  some  principle  of  unity.     This  is  furnished  by 


Essentials  and  Value  of  Business  Education  15 

the  study  of  science.  Now  the  economic  needs  of  man  are 
satisfied  first  by  materials  and  functions  in  the  organic  world, 
and  secondly  by  those  of  the  inorganic  world.  The  former 
include  the  animal  and  vegetable  kingdom,  a  study  of  which 
is  undertaken  by  biology ;  the  latter,  involving  the  study  of 
matter  and  the  changes  taking  place  in  it,  lead  to  the  study  of 
chemistry  and  physics. 

There  are  three  sciences,  then,  which  disclose  to  man  the 
nature  of  the  physical  environment  about  him,  and  the  means 
of  utilizing  it  to  his  own  advantage.  These  are  biology, 
chemistry,  and  physics.  In  this  order  we  will  include  them 
in  the  commercial  curriculum.  Each  one  of  the  sciences  will  be 
studied  with  special  reference  to  those  materials  and  functions 
which  man  has  made  use  of  for  industrial  and  commercial 
purposes.  But  necessarily,  before  industrial  application  can 
be  properly  understood,  the  underlying  principles  upon  which 
these  depend  must  be  mastered.  A  careful  theoretic  founda- 
tion will  therefore  have  to  be  laid  in  each  science,  without 
which  the  student  will  lack  principles  of  interpretation  to 
guide  him  in  studying  the  phenomena  of  the  science,  upon 
which  the  industrial  arts  depend. 

We  will  briefly  trace  the  commercial  value  of  each  one  of 
the  sciences  enumerated,  omitting  for  the  present  their  dis- 
ciplinary value. 

(a)  Biology.  —  Our  study  of  biology  reveals  to  us  the 
sources  from  which  man  satisfies  the  three  primary  needs  of 
man,  —  food,  clothing,  and  shelter.  The  study  of  the  food- 
supply  is  therefore  a  prominent  part  of  the  biologic  curriculum, 
together  with  the  study  of  the  two  great  materials  from  which 
we  secure  our  raiment,  —  cotton  and  wool. 

Altogether  we  may  say  that  the  course  of  industrial  biology 
ought  to  be  practically  a  course  in  elementary  scientific  agri- 


1 6      Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

culture.  The  relation  of  the  latter  to  commerce  is  growing 
of  greater  importance  every  day.  The  changes  taking  place 
in  farming  methods  to-day  are  analogous  to  those  which 
occurred  over  a  century  ago  in  the  mechanical  industries, 
when  the  introduction  of  machinery  so  changed  methods  of 
production  as  to  effect  an  economic  revolution.  Scientific 
and  commercial  methods  are  similarly  transforming  the  work 
of  the  farmer  in  making  the  land  more  productive  and  the 
distribution  of  the  product  more  economical.  With  the  estab- 
lishment of  the  United  States  Department  of  Agriculture,  the 
various  state  departments,  and  agricultural  experiment  sta- 
tions, the  introduction  of  cooperation  in  marketing  the  prod- 
uct, the  growth  of  the  large  produce  commission  houses,  a 
new  era  has  come  in  agriculture.  The  latter  has  become  a 
complex  study,  having  as  its  constituents  not  only  biology, 
but  also  chemistry  and  physics.  The  biologic  element,  which 
of  course  predominates,  includes  the  study  of  commercial 
plants,  their  cultivation  and  harvesting,  the  diseases  to  which 
they  are  liable,  and  their  preventives.  The  study  of  domestic 
animals,  their  products,  and  preparation  for  the  market  would 
be  included  in  the  course.  The  chemistry  of  agriculture 
which  perhaps  might  be  studied  in  the  course  on  industrial 
chemistry,  would  include  the  study  of  the  soil  and  its  fertiliza- 
tion, —  the  problem  of  letting  the  food-supply  keep  pace 
with  the  increase  of  the  population,  and  how  chemistry  is 
solving  it.  Of  course  the  study  of  biology  would  include  the 
subject  of  the  cultivation  of  the  other  crops  of  commerce,  which 
serve  to  provide  clothing  and  other  comforts,  as  well  as  food. 
(6)  Chemistry.  —  The  course  in  industrial  chemistry  would 
follow  that  in  biology.  It  would  reveal  to  the  student  the 
changes  which  take  place  in  the  constitution  of  matter,  and 
how  man  takes  advantage  of  these  changes  for  industrial  pur- 


Essentials  and  Value  of  Business  Education  17 

poses.  The  chemistry  of  the  soil  was  referred  to  before  as 
one  of  the  important  topics,  as  of  course  is  the  chemistry  of 
food,  its  constituents,  its  preservation,  and  adulteration.  In 
the  study  of  the  metals  our  eyes  are  opened  to  a  wide  indus- 
trial field.  Practically  all  of  them  are  found  in  a  state  of 
impurity  and  have  to  be  reduced  so  as  to  be  made  available 
for  use  of  the  arts.  Then  there  is  the  chemistry  of  carbon, 
which  discloses  to  our  view  the  nature  of  the  product,  coal, 
which  makes  the  wheels  of  industry  go  round.  It  also  includes 
the  study  of  illuminating  gas.  In  the  course  we  will  also  have 
petroleum  and  its  by-products,  in  which  the  scientist  is  still 
finding  greater  treasures  every  day.  The  chemistry  of  the 
dyestuffs  also  has  developed  a  great  industry,  especially  in 
Germany.  One  of  the  reasons  for  the  commercial  supremacy 
to  wliich  Germany  is  fast  attaining,  is  the  fact  that  its  indus- 
trial leaders  appreciate  the  importance  of  the  scientific  man 
in  helping  to  realize  industrial  possibilities.  We  find  an  il- 
lustration of  this  in  the  fact  that  great  manufacturing  firms 
find  that  it  pays  to  employ  men  solely  for  the  purpose  of  con- 
ducting research  work. 

If  the  study  of  chemistry  by  the  American  student  will 
have  no  other  result  than  a  realization  on  his  part  of  the  close 
relation  between  theory  and  practice,  between  science  and 
industry,  the  time  spent  on  it  will  have  been  entirely  worth 
while. 

(c)  Physics.  —  Physics,  while  not  so  important  as  chemistry 
to  the  commercial  student,  must  nevertheless  occupy  a  place 
in  the  curriculum,  apart  again  from  its  disciplinary  value. 
Steam  and  electricity  have  brought  about  the  modern  era  of 
industry.  The  study  of  the  means  by  which  man  harnesses 
the  wild  forces  of  nature,  —  the  water  wheel,  the  steam  engine, 
and  the  application  of  electricity,  —  these  are  all  of  the  utmost 


1 8      Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

value  to  the  business  man.  It  is  hardly  necessary  to  go  into 
further  details  on  this  subject,  as  the  importance  of  the  study 
is  too  obvious. 

VII.    TECHNIQUE    OF   COMMERCE 

The  sciences  which  we  have  reviewed  show  us  how  man 
makes  use  of  the  materials  and  forces  of  nature  in  producing 
an  ever  increasing  complexity  of  new  forms.  But  there  is 
another  element  which  must  enter  into  the  study  of  these 
forms.  What  is  the  purpose  of  production?  Is  it  to  serve 
the  needs  of  the  producer  alone  or  those  of  others  as  well? 
Obviously  the  latter,  because  the  producer  has  only  a  need 
for  a  small  part  of  his  product,  and  with  the  surplus  he  may 
obtain  in  exchange  the  product  which  he  needs  of  the  industry 
of  others.  Thus  commerce  arises,  together  with  the  particu- 
lar technique  which  it  develops.  And  so  we  place  as  a  sep- 
arate subject  in  the  curriculum  the  technique  of  commerce,  — 
a  study  of  those  conditions  and  arrangements  which  facilitate 
the  exchange  or  transfer  of  goods. 

In  this  course  we  will  consider  the  various  forms  of  the 
organization  of  industry,  —  the  single  entrepreneur,  the  part- 
nership, the  corporation,  the  trust,  the  specialization  of  in- 
dustry, and  division  of  labor.  The  preparation  for  the  market 
—  the  methods  of  packing  and  shipping  —  is  next  in  the 
course,  followed  by  a  detailed  study  of  transportation  on  land 
and  water.  Special  methods  of  marketing  in  connection  with 
certain  industries  ought  to  be  taken  up:  for  example,  the 
elevator  system  and  the  produce  commission  house.  Among 
other  topics  would  be  the  technique  of  selling,  —  the  whole- 
saler, the  retailer,  the  mail  order  business,  and  methods  of 
advertising  and  the  principles  of  salesmanship. 

Money  and  credit  deserve  special  study  because  they  are 


Essentials  and  Value  of  Business  Education  19 

the  means  which  make  modern  commerce  on  a  large  scale 
possible.  The  various  institutions  of  credit,  —  the  bank,  the 
clearing  house,  and  the  exchanges ;  the  instruments  of  credit, 
—  checks,  bills  of  exchange,  notes,  bills  of  lading,  and  ware- 
house receipts  :  the  study  of  the  function  of  all  of  these  ought  to 
be  included  in  the  course.  Among  other  aspects  of  the  subject 
are  the  technique  of  international  trade  and  the  modern 
mercantile  information  system. 

VIII.    ECONOMICS 

The  objection  may  be  interposed  that  many  of  the  topics 
in  the  foregoing  course  ought  to  be  taken  up  in  the  course  on 
economics.  We  may  discuss  here  the  position  that  the  latter 
should  occupy  in  the  curriculum.  Economics  is  the  philosophy 
of  business.  It  gives  us  a  unity  of  view  of  the  world  of  indus- 
try and  commerce  by  determining  the  proper  sphere  of  each 
industrial  activity  in  its  relation  to  others,  and  establishes  the 
true  basis  upon  which  growth  and  progress  in  business  depend. 
It  is  primarily  abstract,  although  its  truths  are  applied  to 
concrete  facts.  Therefore  pedagogically  it  marks  the  con- 
clusion of  the  business  course,  being  given  at  a  time  when  the 
student  has  a  sufficient  mass  of  data  derived  during  the  previ- 
ous years  of  study,  from  which  to  generalize.  Now  it  will  take 
all  the  time  of  the  teacher  —  if  the  subject  is  properly  taught, 
with  all  the  scope  given  to  discussion  by  the  student  —  to 
impress  upon  the  mind  of  the  latter  the  principles  of  the 
science  and  their  applicability  to  the  industrial  world.  De- 
tails of  the  application  of  economic  principles  in  actual  busi- 
ness ought  to  be  taken  up  in  a  separate  course,  where  they 
can  be  considered  concretely.  This  is  provided  in  the  course 
on  the  technique  of  commerce.     The  study  of  money  and 


20      Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

credit  should  be  so  arranged  as  to  be  concurrent  with  the  work 
in  economics. 

The  regular  course  in  economics  ought  to  be  supplemented 
by  a  study  of  corporate  and  public  finance.  The  latter  can 
be  more  efficiently  studied  in  this  connection  than  in  the 
work  in  civics. 

IX.     COMMERCIAL   GEOGRAPHY 

Another  subject  essential  to  education  for  commerce  is 
commercial  geography.  This  subject  gives  us  a  view  of  the 
influence  of  geographic  conditions  like  climate,  topography, 
and  location  upon  the  industries  and  commerce  of  a  country. 
It  also  treats  of  the  resources  of  the  commercial  countries  of 
the  globe,  their  trade  relations  with  each  other,  their  means 
of  communication,  and  their  trade  opportunities  and  rivalries. 
The  course  will  also  include  a  review  of  the  materials  of  com- 
merce. 

Naturally  the  study  will  be  taken  up  with  the  commercial 
possibihties  of  the  locaHty,  the  state,  and  the  United  States. 
The  study  of  the  countries  of  the  globe  will  be  principally  with 
reference  to  their  relation  with  our  own.  The  commerce  of 
both  the  United  States  and  the  locaHty  will  also  be  considered 
in  connection  with  problems  of  its  expansion,  the  study  of 
competition  we  have  to  meet,  and  means  of  meeting  it.  We 
will  consider  the  entire  subject  in  detail  in  a  later  chapter. 

X.    HISTORY 

The  study  of  the  geography  and  the  technique  of  commerce 
bring  closer  to  mind  the  influence  of  human  institutions  in 
changing  the  face  of  the  environment.  This  influence  has  not 
made  itself  felt  immediately,  because  it  has  itself  been  in  the 
process  of  evolution.     Man's  mastery  over  his  environment  is 


Essentials  and  Value  of  Business  Education  21 

not  a  sudden  outcrop.  To  understand  it  we  must  study  the 
progress  of  this  struggle  as  recorded  in  history.  It  is  hopeless 
to  attempt  to  understand  the  complex  organization  of  the  world 
into  those  institutions  which  contribute  to  its  forms  and 
stability,  —  society  and  the  state, — without  a  record  of  their 
gradual  development  from  simple  forms. 

History,  then,  is  not  only  of  supreme  culture  value  in  giving 
us  a  realization  of  the  meaning  of  civilization  by  disclosing 
to  us  the  sources  and  the  development  of  our  race-inheritance, 
but  it  is  of  great  utilitarian  value.  It  contains  the  laboratory 
in  which  social,  political,  and  economic  experiments  on  a  large 
scale  have  been  conducted  in  the  past,  and  the  successes  and 
failures  of  these  form  most  valuable  object  lessons  for  us. 

The  course  in  a  commercial  school  ought  to  lay  particular 
stress  on  the  industrial  and  social  phases  of  history,  although 
the  political  phase  and  the  history  of  culture  ought  to  receive 
their  due  share  of  attention.  It  is  a  question  whether  the 
history  of  commerce  ought  to  be  studied  apart  from  general 
history.  In  the  high  school  course  it  is  probably  not  advisable 
to  do  so.  The  principal  reason  why  the  separate  study  of  the 
history  of  commerce  has  been  favored  by  some  teachers  is 
that  the  ordinary  historical  text-book  contains  so  much  of 
the  story  of  war  and  dynasty,  —  with  some  recognition,  it  is 
true,  of  political  and  constitutional  history,  —  that  the  eco- 
nomic and  social  elements  have  generally  been  left  to  appen- 
dixes. An  attempt  will  be  made  in  a  succeeding  chapter  to 
show  how  the  course  in  industrial  history  may  be  made  the 
centre  from  which  the  survey  of  the  entire  subject  may  be 
taken.  For  the  present  we  will  just  note  one  important  fact 
that  ought  to  be  kept  in  the  foreground  :  that  is  the  emphasis 
upon  the  element  of  growth  and  development.  The  chrono- 
logical  method  fails   entirely   to   give   the  student  a  grasp 


22       Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

of  this.  We  want  to  appeal  to  the  student's  imagination, 
not  to  his  memory.  Historical  maps  visualize  the  territorial 
growth  of  the  country.  Other  means,  such  as  charts,  tables, 
historical  exhibits,  etc.,  ought  to  be  employed  to  visualize 
its  economic  development. 

XI.    CIVICS 

The  study  of  history  should  culminate  with  the  history  of 
our  own  country,  and  the  study  of  its  government.  Every 
person  should  have  a  clear  knowledge  of  the  nature  and  func- 
tions of  the  state,  and  the  duty  which  he  owes  to  it.  This 
conception  of  civic  duty  was  especially  strong  in  ancient 
Greece  and  Rome,  where  the  good  citizen  and  the  good  man 
were  used  as  synonymous  terms. 

In  the  commercial  curriculum  outlined  in  the  next  chapter, 
the  study  in  civics  is  begun  by  a  course  in  municipal  activities 
or  local  government.  We  begin  this  way,  because  it  is  the 
most  concrete  way  of  giving  the  student  an  idea  of  civic  duty. 
For  it  is  the  local  government  with  which  the  individual  comes 
in  most  immediate  contact,  and  in  relation  to  which  he  can 
discharge  certain  duties,  even  at  a  youthful  age,  before  he  has 
the  right  of  franchise.  The  intelligent  exercise  of  the  latter 
by  no  means  discharges  the  obligation  of  the  citizen  to  the  state. 
If  it  did,  women  would  have  no  obligation.  There  are  many 
duties,  both  positive  and  negative,  which  a  person  owes  to 
the  government  under  which  he  lives.  A  clear  realization  of 
these  ought  to  be  impressed  in  the  school  as  a  preparation  for 
civic  righteousness. 

XII.    COMMERCIAL   LAW 

Civics  has  shown  us  the  forms  and  institutions  which 
the  state  has  adopted  for  the  best  interests  of  its  citizens, 


Essentials  and  Value  of  Business  Education  23 

and  pointed  out  the  paths  in  which  our  duty  to  the  state 
lies. 

The  state  has  provided  a  system  of  laws  for  the  protection 
of  life  and  property.  It  has  also  laid  down,  to  a  large  extent, 
the  laws  governing  the  relations  of  men  to  each  other.  With 
the  growth  of  modern  commerce  and  industry  these  relations 
have  become  more  and  more  complex;  and  it  is  not  to  be 
wondered  at  that  a  conflict  of  motives  between  individuals 
should  arise,  and  that  their  interests  should  sometimes  clash. 
The  state  of  course  provides  the  means  of  peaceably  settling 
these  quarrels.  But,  as  Polonius  says,  "  Beware  of  entrance 
to  a  quarrel,  but  being  in,  bear  that  the  opposer  may  beware 
of  thee."  An  acquaintance  with  law  will  enable  a  person  so 
to  safeguard  his  interests,  as  to  avoid  expensive  litigation. 
And  if  he  is  forced  into  it,  he  will  know  that  he  is  in  an  in- 
trenched position  and  that  the  opposer  will  have  to  beware  of 
him.  Commercial  law,  then,  is  to  be  included  in  the  curriculum 
not  because  its  study  will  help  the  business  man  to  dispense 
with  the  lawyer,  but  because  it  will  help  him  to  protect  him- 
self when  legal  advice  is  not  readily  at  hand,  or  when  the  un- 
learned in  law  would  not  think  legal  precautions  were  at  all 
necessary. 

XIII.    OTHER   SUBJECTS 

Literature,  drawing,  music,  and  physical  training  and 
hygiene  are  all  essential  parts  of  the  curriculum,  but  most  of 
them  will  be  treated  below  in  connection  with  the  discussion 
of  the  disciplinary  phases  of  the  subjects  of  the  course  of  study. 
We  will  discuss  here  only  the  subject  of  physical  training  and 
hygiene. 

The  Greeks  appreciated  much  more  than  we  do  the  impor- 
tance of  the  training  of  the  body.     But  their  motive  was  mill- 


24      Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

tary,  athletic,  and  aesthetic,  while  ours  is  hygienic.  We  want 
our  students  to  train  their  bodies  because  in  doing  so  they  will 
preserve  their  health  and  strength.  Commercial  pursuits 
are  generally  of  a  character  not  calling  upon  the  exercise  of 
the  muscle.  They  are  a  constant  tax  upon  the  brain  and 
nerves.  Unless  the  worker  has  opportunities  for  relaxation, 
he  will  find  that  the  work  is  a  strain  on  his  nerves,  —  that  it 
makes  him  irritable  and  nervous,  and  that  both  his  health  and 
his  business  suffer;  the  latter  from  his  inability  to  give  the 
full  measure  of  his  normal  mental  power  to  it. 

Now  physical  exercise  is  the  proper  relaxation  that  such 
a  man  needs.  His  work  in  physical  training  and  hygiene  in 
school  should  result  in  giving  him  a  love  of  sport  and  healthy 
exercise,  and  the  ability  to  take  care  of  his  body  so  as  to  pre- 
serve his  health.  The  prolongation  of  life  and  the  prevention 
of  disease  have  of  course  their  economic  side.  Ill-health, 
which  prevents  a  man  from  doing  his  share  in  society,  is  a 
drain  upon  the  resources  of  the  community.  Anything  which 
prolongs  the  efficient  period  of  a  man's  activity  is  the  source 
of  so  much  increase  of  the  wealth  and  prosperity  of  the  world. 

DISCIPLINARY   PHASE   OF   BUSINESS  EDUCATION 

Having  considered  the  subjects  which  will  have  to  be  in- 
cluded in  the  commercial  curriculum  because  they  are  the 
windows  through  which  the  individual  will  have  to  look  at 
the  world  in  general  and  at  the  industrial  field  in  particular, 
we  now  have  to  regard  the  particular  effect  which  these 
studies  are  expected  to  produce  on  the  individual  who  is  en- 
gaged in  them,  —  and  on  the  qualities  which  they  are  ex- 
pected to  develop  in  him. 

We  mention  this  subject,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  in  certain 
pedagogic  circles  the  reference  to  the  general  or  formal  dis- 


Essentials  and  Value  of  Business  Education  25 

ciplinary  value  of  any  subject  is  extremely  unpopular.  There 
is  a  widespread  belief  to-day  that  the  training  obtained  from 
any  subject  will  be  manifested  only  in  relation  to  that  sub- 
ject, and  will  not  be  transferable  to  any  other  subject.  But 
the  truth  of  this  in  its  extreme  form  is  very  doubtful.  There 
are  many  who  still  believe  in  the  general  disciplinary  value 
of  a  classical  education.  Granting  that  there  is  some  truth 
stiU  left  in  the  doctrine  of  general  mental  discipline,  we  desire 
to  show  that  there  is  just  as  much  mental  discipline  to  be  ob- 
tained from  the  business  course  as  from  the  general  academic 
course.  On  the  other  hand,  even  if  the  doctrine  of  formal 
discipline  should  be  rejected  entirely,  it  still  remains  true  that 
the  development  of  power  in  a  subject,  rather  than  the  im- 
parting of  a  mass  of  information,  should  be  the  aim  of  the 
teacher.  Education  as  training  and  development,  rather  than 
cramming  and  stuffing,  should  be  his  ideal.  What  phases  of 
the  mind  the  teacher  is  to  train,  and  how  the  content  of 
the  curriculum  will  aid  him,  we  shall  now  consider. 

I.  Intellectual  Training.  — The  use  of  this  term  does  not 
necessarily  involve  the  idea  of  training  for  scholarship.  It 
has  reference  to  the  idea  of  the  development  in  school  of 
powers  which  are  psychologically  referred  to  as  intellectual,  — • 
the  power  of  observation,  the  judgment,  the  imagination,  and 
the  reason. 

We  may  at  first  wonder  why  training  of  the  memory  is  not 
included  in  the  list.  This  is  because  the  training  of  the  mem- 
ory is  not  an  end  in  itself,  and  if  made  so  it  is  apt  to  cause 
arrested  development  of  the  higher  faculties.  We  do  not  want 
the  student  to  carry  a  burden  of  facts,  because  he  is  liable  to 
do  so  at  the  expense  of  the  reason  and  as  an  excuse  for  not 
thinking.  For  the  larger  facts  of  life  when  grasped  by  the 
reason  are  remembered  without  any  effort,  and  the  smaller 


26      Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

facts  rationally  connected  with  them  can  be  deduced  from  them 
by  the  mind,  —  again  without  the  effort  of  the  memory. 
Other  facts  are  remembered  only  to  the  extent  to  which  we 
know  where  to  find  them,  when  we  need  them.  Such  are 
the  facts  in  the  almanacs,  individual  items  in  our  account 
books,  etc.  It  is  sometimes  a  disadvantage  to  a  man  in  busi- 
ness to  have  a  memory  for  individual  isolated  facts,  because 
he  is  liable  to  get  into  the  habit  of  relying  upon  his  memory 
instead  of  writing  them  down.  In  this  way  he  will  tend  to 
become  unsystematic  in  his  business  habits,  —  a  condition 
which  will  seriously  interfere  with  the  progress  of  his  business. 
It  is  needless  to  refer  to  the  importance  that  a  complete  record 
of  things  is  in  business. 

It  must  not  be  assumed  from  the  above  that  we  are  trying  to 
disparage  the  importance  of  the  memory,  but  only  when  its 
use  tends  to  a  disuse  of  the  higher  powers  of  the  mind.  It  is 
of  very  great  value  to  a  person  to  be  able  to  grasp  facts  in 
their  relation  to  other  facts  in  a  group,  to  remember  them  as 
parts  of  one  system  of  experience.  Facts  of  that  sort  are 
remembered  because  they  have  been  thoroughly  assimilated ; 
and  the  vehicle  of  this  assimilation  have  been  the  higher 
intellectual  functions  of  observation  and  judgment.  The 
training,  then,  of  the  other  powers  will  indirectly  help  the 
memory  and  make  the  special  training  of  the  latter  unneces- 
sary. 

(a)  Observation.  —  The  difference  between  ordinary  per- 
ception and  observation  may  be  illustrated  by  the  following 
examples  from  bookkeeping.  The  layman  looks  at  a  set  of 
books  and  sees  only  names  and  figures.  He  only  perceives. 
But  the  bookkeeper  looks  at  the  same,  and  with  the  aid  of  his 
imagination  the  entire  combination  of  the  business  is  revealed 
to    him.     He    observes.     Observation    is,    therefore,    active 


Essentials  and  Value  of  Business  Education  27 

seeing,  and  involves  the  concentration  of  attention  to  the 
discernment  of  a  novel  element  in  what  appears  to  be  familiar, 
and  a  familiar  element  in  what  appears  to  be  novel. 

The  keen  eye  for  details,  the  power  to  note  variations  and 
difference  where  the  untrained  eye  would  assume  sameness, 
—  all  this  is  of  course  a  desideratum  of  the  business  man. 
Each  vocation  develops  in  the  individual  certain  powers  to 
discriminate,  —  powers  that  tend  to  become  sharper  as  spe- 
cialization proceeds.  In  training  for  the  vocation  of  business 
we  aim  to  develop  the  power  of  observation,  so  that  the  student 
will  become  quick  and  alert  in  seizing  details  which  come  under 
his  eye,  —  details  that  otherwise  would  escape  him.  We 
accomplish  this  object  by  encouraging  the  habit  and  strength- 
ening the  power  of  attention.  Lack  of  concentration  is  the 
primary  cause  of  failure  to  observe.  The  poor  observer's 
attention  is  scattered  so  that  all  the  facts  in  his  immediate 
surroundings  appear  in  the  same  degree  of  intensity  or  lack 
of  it.  Now  the  good  observer  focuses  his  attention  upon  a 
particular  part  of  the  picture  before  him,  and  for  the  moment 
shuts  out  from  his  view  the  other  parts  of  the  picture,  or  rather, 
places  them  in  the  margin  of  his  consciousness.  This  con- 
centration enables  the  observer  to  discern  the  nature  of  the 
object  before  him,  and  assign  it  to  its  proper  place  in  the  gen- 
eral view  of  his  experience. 

This  power  of  the  mind  which  we  have  been  discussing  is 
also  exercised,  though  not  so  frequently,  in  finding  similari- 
ties between  objects  that  are  apparently  dissimilar.  The 
finding  of  resemblances  is  a  very  important  aid  to  reasoning. 
Thus  the  student  of  economics  who  observes  that  a  certain 
present  situation  resembles  one  in  the  past,  has  a  basis  for 
predicting,  by  analogy,  the  consequences  of  that  first  situa- 
tion.    While   observation   is   primarily    analytic,    discerning 


28      Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

variety  and  distinction  where  perception  only  sees  sameness, 
its  activity  must  be  supplemented  by  synthesis  in  order  that 
the  results  of  observation  may  be  of  practical  value ;  that  is, 
the  fact  observed  must  be  related  to  the  rest  of  experience  in 
order  that  its  larger  meaning  may  be  grasped. 

The  exercise  of  the  power  of  observation  in  school  is  best 
stimulated  by  questions.  To  the  keen  mind  every  slight  de- 
parture from  routine  suggests  a  question  which  arrests  the 
observer's  attention  until  it  is  answered.  In  school  this 
question  must  usually  be  directed  by  the  teacher,  and  the 
student's  attention  aroused  to  the  observation  of  differences 
and  similarities. 

As  to  the  school  subjects  which  train  the  power  of  observa- 
tion, we  will  note  only  a  few  that  do  so  in  a  high  degree. 
First,  of  course,  come  the  inductive  sciences,  through  which 
the  student  learns  to  observe  the  phenomena  about  him  either 
in  the  form  in  which  they  appear  naturally,  or  under  condi- 
tions introduced  by  experiment. 

Business  practice  and  routine  requires  the  guiding  stimulus 
of  observation  to  keep  one  from  getting  into  a  rut.  The 
constant  exercise  of  observation  on  the  student's  part  is 
necessary  to  learn  the  forms  and  procedure  in  business,  until 
they  are  no  longer  new,  but  a  part  of  habit.  At  this  stage 
there  is  danger  that  the  mind  will  sink  into  a  kind  of  lethargy, 
because  it  lacks  the  stimulus  of  an  obstacle  to  be  overcome,  of 
a  difficulty  to  be  mastered.  The  exercise  of  attention  and 
observation  keeps  the  mind  constantly  on  the  alert  for  new 
situations  and  departures,  amid  the  apparent  sameness  of 
routine. 

In  commercial  geography  there  is  a  continual  appeal  to 
the  mind  to  observe  similarities  and  differences  between  facts, 
so  that  the  latter  should  not  remain  in  the  mind  in  isolation, 


Essentials  and  Value  of  Business  Education  29 

but  as  parts  of  a  connected  and  orderly  experience.  Take  a 
table,  for  example,  giving  the  values  of  the  different  exports 
and  imports  of  the  United  States.  As  isolated  facts  these 
values  mean  very  little,  but  in  their  relation  to  each  other, 
they  furnish  data  from  which  to  draw  inferences  regarding  the 
general  state  of  commerce  in  the  country.  Charts  and  statis- 
tical curves  aid  the  student  to  observe  these  relations  in  their 
totality. 

Commercial  law  affords  excellent  examples  in  the  use  of 
observation.  Each  case  always  involves  a  salient  point  upon 
which  the  decision  must  depend,  and  which  the  student  must 
disengage  from  its  non-essential  surroundings.  Or  sometimes 
a  case  will  come  up,  which  a  superficial  consideration  will 
decide  in  accordance  with  certain  principles,  while  a  careful 
scrutiny  will  disclose  a  point  which  changes  the  entire  aspect 
of  the  situation. 

(&)  Judgment.  —  What  do  we  understand  by  the  training 
of  the  judgment?  Popularly  we  know  what  good  judgment 
means,  but  if  we  were  asked  to  give  an  explanation  of  it  we 
would  find  difficulty.  And  yet  a  clear,  thoughtful,  psychologi- 
cal analysis  of  judgment  will  prove  of  great  assistance  in  under- 
standing that  function  and  in  appreciating  the  relation  be- 
tween education  and  practical  life. 

By  judgment  in  the  largest  sense  of  the  word  we  mean,  to 
use  technical  phraseology,  the  ability  to  see  the  particular 
in  the  light  of  the  universal ;  or  more  popularly,  to  under- 
stand how  to  apply  rules  to  particular  facts  and  situations. 
Let  us  analyze  this  further.  We  learn  laws  and  rules  not  as 
ends  in  themselves  but  as  means  with  which  to  interpret  facts. 
The  ability  to  interpret  facts  by  means  of  the  proper  rules 
constitutes  judgment. 

This  difficulty  presents  itself  in  the  exercise  of  judgment. 


30      Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

When  we  see  a  particular  situation  to  which  we  have  to  adjust 
ourselves,  we  are  sometimes  at  a  loss  to  know  what  rules  of 
our  past  experience  we  shall  draw  upon  in  order  to  accomplish 
our  purpose.  The  man  of  judgment  sees  the  situation  and 
immediately,  as  we  say,  "sizes  it  up,"  a  very  expressive  term 
which  means  that  he  interprets  it  in  accordance  with  his  past 
experience,  and  in  the  light  of  it  adjusts  himself  to  that  situa- 
tion. 

This  ability  some  individuals  possess  in  such  a  marked 
degree  that  we  sometimes  say  it  is  born  with  them.  Now 
while  this  power  is  at  the  basis  of  genius  and  talent,  it  is  not 
entirely  native,  but  acquired  by  constant  practice.  No  amount 
of  general  knowledge  is  of  any  value  to  us  unless  it  will  help 
us  to  perform  a  better  adjustment  to  the  environment.  It 
must  not  only  help  us,  but  we  must  know  how  to  help  our- 
selves with  the  aid  of  it.  That  is  the  reason  why  in  the  school, 
practice,  example,  and  drill  are  such  an  essential  part.  By 
their  means  the  student  learns  how  to  recognize  facts,  how  to 
do  things,  how  to  apply  principles ;  in  short,  how  to  use  his 
judgment. 

Sometimes  no  amount  of  such  training  will  avail  to  give  a 
man  the  proper  judgment.  He  may  be  full  of  knowledge  and 
yet  a  fool  when  it  comes  to  doing  things.  We  find  examples 
of  that  kind  in  many  professions :  the  teacher  who  knows  a 
great  deal  of  pedagogy  but  who  cannot  teach,  the  lawyer  who 
is  learned  in  the  law  but  fails  to  advise  his  client  correctly, 
the  bookkeeper  who  knows  the  theory  of  accounts  but  who 
cannot  feel  the  pulse  of  the  business  and  make  a  prpper  an- 
alysis of  its  condition.  The  trouble  with  these  men  is  that 
they  lack  judgment.  Somewhere  in  the  recess  of  their  mind 
there  is  the  proper  remedy  for  the  situation,  but  it  is  mingled 
with  so  many  other  remedies,  that  they  do  not  know  which 


Essentials  and  Value  of  Business  Education  31 

one  will  lit  in  the  particular  case  before  them.  They  either 
choose  the  wrong  ones  or  remain  inactive,  and  turn  out  to  be 
failures  in  their  profession,  while  the  man  of  less  learning  may 
become  a  brilliant  success. 

What  is  the  reason  for  the  failure  of  the  former?  There 
are  two  causes :  One  that  their  education  has  been  too  theo- 
retical and  they  have  been  given  too  little  opportunity  to  apply 
what  they  know  to  practical  conditions.  The  other  reason 
is  a  temperamental  one,  —  a  lack  of  native  ability ;  and  for 
this  there  is  unfortunately  no  remedy.  A  person  who  suffers 
from  this  lack  has  chosen  a  vocation  for  which  he  is  not  fitted, 
and  no  amount  of  training  can  supply  this  constitutional 
deficiency. 

This  should  not  make  us  jump  to  the  conclusion  that  an 
elaborate  education  as  a  preparation  for  business  is  futile, 
as  far  as  training  for  practical  work  is  concerned.  Of  course 
it  is  understood  that  no  amount  of  commercial  education  will 
dispense  with  the  necessity  of  actual  experience  in  business 
to  produce  an  efficient  business  man,  just  as  no  amount  of 
medical  education  will  dispense  with  the  necessity  of  clinical 
experience  to  make  a  good  physician.  But  the  man  who  has 
had  the  thorough  grounding  in  school  approaches  the  problems 
with  a  different  mind  from  the  one  who  has  not  had  it.  He 
recognizes  situations  not  as  isolated  phenomena  but  as  ex- 
emplifications of  laws  and  economic  forces  operating.  He 
can  therefore  grasp  the  situation  in  its  large  significance  and 
in  its  general  relation  to  the  rest  of  his  affairs. 

To  study  in  detail  how  the  subjects  of  the  commercial  cur- 
riculum train  the  judgment  is,  quantitatively,  a  large  task. 
Every  subject  requires  the  student  to  make  concrete  applica- 
tion of  the  principles  he  has  studied,  to  particular  cases,  — 
and  to  that  extent  it  exercises  the  judgment.     The  only  reason 


32      Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

why,  in  spite  of  so  much  opportunity  to  exercise  the  judgment, 
many  students  who  leave  school  are  still  deficient  in  the  latter 
is  that  the  situations  which  confront  them  in  actual  experience, 
are  the  results  of  complex  forces  working  to  produce  them,  and 
they  can  be  faced  successfully  only  with  this  many-sided  view 
of  their  cause.  In  school,  on  the  other  hand,  situations  are 
presented,  with  many  of  the  extraneous  forces  operating, 
eUminated  for  pedagogic  reasons.  And  even  when  the  prob- 
lem is  complex  the  student  can  handle  it  successfully  because, 
in  a  way,  the  very  subject  he  is  studying  suggests  an  explana- 
tion. When,  on  the  other  hand,  the  problem  is  taken  out  of 
its  environment  and  the  student  loses  his  clue,  its  solution 
becomes  much  more  difficult,  and  is  analogous  to  what  is 
found  in  real  life.  The  power  to  judge  in  such  cases  is  a 
complex  of  the  judgment  and  the  imagination. 

Let  us  take  a  few  examples  of  school  subjects  to  show  how 
they  train  the  judgment.  Bookkeeping,  if  properly  taught, 
helps  the  student  to  apply  general  principles  to  keeping  an 
account  of  business  in  such  a  way  as  to  produce  a  systematic 
and  economical  record  and  one  best  adapted  to  the  requirements 
of  the  particular  business.  The  bookkeeper  of  judgment  is 
certainly  the  one  who  can  do  this  best.  In  school  the  constant 
practice  of  the  student  in  keeping  sets  of  books  of  different 
kinds  of  business,  trains  his  judgment,  because  he  has  to  apply 
the  general  principles  to  a  variety  of  situations. 

Arithmetic  accomplishes  the  same  purpose.  In  order  to 
solve  a  problem,  the  student  has  to  judge  that  it  is  only  an 
exempHfication  of  one  or  more  fundamental  arithmetical 
processes. 

Commercial  law  is  a  subject  in  which  there  is  the  greatest 
scope  for  the  training  of  this  power.  Every  case  at  law  re- 
quires for  its  solution  certain  fundamental  principles  of  juris- 


Essentials  and  Value  of  Business  Education  33 

prudence.  To  apply  the  proper  principle  of  law  to  a  partic- 
ular case  is  not  always  easy ;  and  sometimes  it  is  so  difficult  that 
even  the  trained  experts  —  lawyers  and  judges  —  disagree. 
The  good  judge  must  not  only  know  the  law,  but  he  must 
know  how  to  apply  it.  His  decision  or  judgment  is  the  applica- 
tion of  the  law  to  the  particular  case.  This  is  exactly  what 
we  have  shown  to  be  the  meaning  of  judgment  in  general. 

From  this  it  will  be  evident  that  no  amount  of  drill  on  what 
the  law  is  can  compare  in  importance  with  practice  in  the 
solution  of  numerous  legal  problems.  Only  in  this  manner, 
by  the  training  of  the  student's  judgment,  will  his  study  of 
commercial  law  be  fruitful  to  him. 

(c)  Reasoning.  —  The  student  of  elementary  psychology 
finds  it  difficult  to  discriminate  between  reasoning  on  the 
one  hand  and  some  of  the  other  intellectual  powers  like 
judgment,  which  we  have  discussed,  and  which  seem  to  in- 
volve reasoning.  He  finds  himself,  then,  in  what  he  con- 
siders a  hopeless  circle.  On  the  one  hand,  a  chain  of  reason- 
ing is  a  combination  of  judgments,  on  the  other,  each  judg- 
ment is  itself  the  result  of  reasoning.  This  difficulty  can  be 
explained  away.  Note  that  the  mind  is  a  unity,  and  all  its 
so-called  faculties  are  only  manifestations  of  particular 
powers  of  it.  Now  it  has  been  remarked  that  even  the  lowest 
manifestation  of  intelligence  —  perception  —  is  the  result  of 
reasoning,  —  the  conclusion  of  a  syllogism.  But  the  point  is 
that  the  activity  of  the  reason  in  perception  is  unconscious, 
while  in  the  higher  powers  it  is  reflective.  Each  judgment  is 
the  result  of  an  impHed  syllogism,  but  the  premises  of  that 
syllogism  do  not  stand  out  consciously  in  the  mind.  We  may 
use  an  imperfect  analogy  and  say  that  the  judgment  repre- 
sents the  sentence,  while  reasoning  represents  the  paragraph 
or  extended  discourse. 


34      Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

In  the  exercise  of  reasoning,  both  inductive  and  deductive, 
the  mind  makes  use  of  a  series  of  combinations  of  judgments 
to  complete  its  work  of  arriving  at  truth.  Inductive  reason- 
ing gives  us  truths  or  general  principles,  which  in  turn  the 
mind  makes  use  of  to  arrive  at  larger  truths.  Deductive 
reasoning  tests  the  validity  of  these  truths  by  deriving  the 
particular  facts  by  deduction  from  them.  To  illustrate  from 
one  of  our  subjects :  The  laws  of  a  nation  are  the  crystalKzed 
experience  of  the  people,  extending  back  many  generations. 
Their  formulation  is  a  process  of  induction.  Given  these 
laws,  and  we  can  define  all  the  relations  of  men  under  the 
state  by  means  of  these.     We  do  this  by  a  process  of  deduction. 

Mathematics,  especially  geometry,  is  frequently  men- 
tioned as  the  subject  par  excellence  which  furnishes  training 
in  deductive  reasoning.  This  is  because  geometry  begins  with 
a  series  of  most  general  axioms  and  definitions,  and  with  the 
aid  of  these  it  deduces  all  the  properties  of  space.  But  we 
fear  that  its  disciplinary  value  is  overrated  when  we  compare  it 
with  the  possibilities  of  commercial  law  when  well  taught, 
as  a  subject  which  furnishes  training  in  deductive  reasoning. 
The  trouble  with  geometry  is  that,  as  it  is  a  subject  which 
deals  with  a  formal  aspect  of  the  world,  abstracted  from  its 
content,  the  student  fails  to  see  the  relation  between  the 
problems  of  reasoning  in  geometry  and  those  in  real  life. 

In  commercial  law,  on  the  other  hand,  there  is  as  wide  a 
scope  for  training  in  deductive  reasoning  as  in  mathematics, 
with  the  additional  advantage  that  the  subject  deals  with 
concrete  facts.  The  situation  presented  is  this  :  The  student 
is  as  a  rule  not  asked  to  discover  by  a  process  of  induction 
what  the  law  is.  He  is  given  the  law,  and  asked  to  deduce 
from  it  applications  to  particular  situations.  By  the  use  of 
numerous  cases  the  student's  ability  to  deduce  the  law  in  a 


Essentials  and  Value  of  Business  Education  35 

particular  case  from  a  general  knowledge  of  the  law,  is  con- 
tinually tested  and  strengthened.  The  subject  also  gives 
abundant  opportunity  for  the  use  of  the  Socratic  method,  as 
will  be  shown  in  the  special  chapter  on  methods  in  commer- 
cial law. 

Economics  is  another  subject  in  which  deductive  reasoning 
is  employed.  The  student  has  discovered  the  economic 
laws.  Given  a  certain  state  of  facts,  and  he  will  be  able  to 
give  their  economic  interpretations.  But  right  here  the 
student  must  be  cautioned  that  the  economic  laws  are  largely 
the  result  of  the  combined  experience  of  the  present  and  past 
ages,  and  therefore  inductive.  Even  when  they  are  hypoth- 
eses, they  have  been  tested  so  often  by  experience,  that 
they  may  be  not  improperly  said  to  be  based  on  experience. 

The  sciences  and  all  the  subjects  in  which  the  student 
derives  facts  by  his  own  observation  furnish  good  training  in 
inductive  reasoning.  The  facts  collected  by  the  student's 
own  observation  are  unified  by  being  shown  to  be  the  work- 
ings of  one  and  the  same  law.  This  is  induction.  But  science 
also  contains  its  deductive  element.  The  laws  derived  by 
induction  are  made  use  of  by  being  applied  to  explain  new 
facts.  And  just  as  the  inductive  sciences  have  a  deductive 
element,  so  the  deductive  sciences  have  their  inductive  side. 
Thus  in  commercial  law,  the  application  of  the  law  to  partic- 
ular cases  sometimes  leads  to  difficulties  and  injustice,  and 
the  generalized  expression  of  this  experience  is  a  new  law, 
established  either  by  decision  or  by  statute. 

Why  do  we  call  some  sciences  deductive  and  others  induc- 
tive, if  both  methods  are  found  in  all  of  them?  We  do  this 
in  accordance  with  the  method  which  predominates  in  the 
particular  science. 

{d)  Imagination.  —  Another  power  spoken  of  as  essential  in 


36      Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

the  training  of  the  business  man  is  the  imagination.  It  may 
at  first  seem  strange  that  the  training  of  this  function  should 
be  emphasized  in  connection  with  the  education  for  a  prac- 
tical aim,  as  it  is  so  frequently  associated  with  the  dreamer 
and  unpractical  man.  But  the  imagination  reenforced  by 
judgment  is  perhaps  the  most  valuable  possession  of  business 
genius  and  talent.  The  man  of  imagination  is  the  one  who 
foresees  business  possibilities.  His  suggestive  mind  is  struck 
with  an  idea,  and  he  sees  it  in  its  realization,  while  others 
call  it  far-fetched  and  impracticable.  Our  great  inventors 
have  been  men  of  imagination,  and  it  is  too  familiar  to  cite 
illustrations  of  how  many  of  them  have  been  called  dreamers 
when  they  first  propounded  ideas. 

Now  the  imagination  takes  the  man  out  of  his  accustomed 
routine.  One  man  may  be  familiar  with  a  certain  course  of 
action  or  line  of  business  policy  and  he  may  pursue  it  along 
the  well-beaten  path.  Another  man's  imagination  sees  new 
business  opportunities  in  this  line,  new  chances  for  trade 
enlargement,  new  methods  of  making  an  impression  on  the 
environment.  His  imagination  gives  him  the  clue  to  a  new 
aim,  his  judgment  tells  him  the  best  means  to  use  to  realize 
his  aim. 

It  is  the  man  of  imagination  in  business  who  has  practically 
created  the  branch  of  business  known  as  advertising.  And 
where  would  city  and  railroad  development  be  without  the 
imagination  of  the  man  who  sees  a  land  area  in  a  particular 
location  covered  with  trees  and  uninhabited,  and  pictures  it 
as  a  busy  industrial  centre  of  the  future ;  and  puts  his  faith 
in  practice  by  helping  to  make  his  picture  a  reality  ? 

There  is  another  sense,  although  not  exactly  a  practical 
one,  in  which  the  training  of  the  imagination  is  important, 
and  which  will  be  spoken  of  in  connection  with  cesthetic 


Essentials  and  Value  of  Business  Education  37 

training.  The  man  who  lacks  imagination  will  not  be  recep- 
tive to  art  and  literature,  and  will  therefore  have  shut  to  him 
one  gateway  of  experience  through  which  so  many  things 
enter  that  make  life  richer  and  more  harmonious.  The 
study  of  literature  is  one  of  the  best  means  of  developing  the 
imagination,  and  it  becomes  of  added  importance  because  it 
forms  the  habit  of  reading,  and  therefore  of  extending  one's 
means  of  self-education. 

Now  to  consider  briefly  how  some  of  the  technical  com- 
mercial subjects  develop  the  imagination.  Bookkeeping  and 
accounting,  with  their  matter-of-fact  statements  and  columns 
of  figures,  are  nevertheless  a  fruitful  source  for  the  man  of 
imagination.  What  are  those  facts  on  the  books  but  sym- 
bols which  stand  for  the  business  and  its  progress  ?  The 
imaginative  person  will  at  once  construct  in  his  mind  an  entire 
picture  of  the  business,  in  its  concrete  workings,  its  progress, 
and  its  present  status.  This  picture  will  at  once  suggest  to 
him  whether  the  business  is  healthy  or  whether  there  are 
symptoms  of  disease,  —  where  there  are  leaks  and  where 
there  are  opportunities  for  further  development.  It  is  true 
he  will  proceed  to  test  his  theories  and  surmises  by  a  close 
analysis.  But  the  general  impression,  the  synthesis  which 
gives  the  cue  to  his  analytic  activity,  is  the  result  of  his  im- 
agination. Practice  in  interpretations  of  facts  as  they  are 
presented  in  sets  of  books  is  therefore  a  most  valuable  adjunct 
to  the  training  of  the  bookkeeper. 

Commercial  geography  is  the  subject  in  which  there  is  the 
greatest  scope  for  the  imagination.  It  is  when  the  imagina- 
tion is  lacking  that  the  study  becomes  a  dead  recital  of  facts 
and  figures.  The  imagination  imbues  it  with  Hfe.  The 
student  must  be  taught  to  make  a  synthetic  picture  of  the 
country   in   all   its   industrial   activities.     Every   new   fact 


38      Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

studied  about  the  country  will  take  its  proper  place  in  the 
picture,  and  help  to  make  it  more  complete  and  more  vivid, 
instead  of  adding  one  more  fact  to  be  carried  by  the  memory. 
The  imagination  plays  such  an  important  part  in  this  sub- 
ject, that  it  will  be  discussed  further  in  connection  with  the 
chapter  on  the  teaching  of  commercial  geography. 

The  imagination  plays  quite  as  important  a  part  in  the 
study  of  industrial  history.  The  past  must  be  reconstructed 
with  all  its  activities.  Only  by  regarding  it  in  its  unity  can 
we  draw  the  valuable  lessons  it  gives  us.  Unless  the  imagina- 
tion constructs  these  pictures,  the  study  of  history  becomes  a 
mere  chronology  of  facts.  Elsewhere  it  will  be  shown  how 
the  imagination  can  be  applied  to  the  greatest  advantage  in 
the  study  of  the  history  of  commerce. 

It  is  possible  to  trace  the  imaginative  element  in  every 
subject,  —  even  in  arithmetic,  which  seems  so  far  from  it. 
Here,  again,  the  imagination  gives  life  to  the  problem  by 
relating  it  to  the  concrete  activities  of  life.  What  is  a  prob- 
lem in  bank  discount  to  the  unimaginative  student  ?  Merely 
an  example  in  interest,  —  in  multiplication.  To  the  student 
whose  study  of  arithmetic  has  been  correlated  with  the  study 
of  business  processes  the  problem  recalls  the  bank,  the  note, 
the  technique  of  discounting  a  note,  etc.  And  thus  the 
example  in  arithmetic  becomes  a  vehicle  for  a  better  under- 
standing on  his  part  of  the  ways  of  business.  In  every  re- 
spect, then,  the  imagination  helps  to  lift  us  out  of  mechanical 
routine  into  novel  paths  full  of  possibilities  of  progress. 

2.  .Esthetic  Training.  —  It  was  pointed  out  before  that 
complete  living  comprehends  the  ability  to  enjoy  one's 
leisure.  Training  in  the  appreciation  of  art  has  only  an  in- 
direct bearing  commercially  (we  do  not  have  in  mind  train- 
ing to  become  an  art  dealer),  but  it  results  in  giving  us  a 


Essentials  and  Value  of  Business  Education  39 

completed  self-realization  of  the  richness  and  possibilities  of 
life,  of  putting  our  souls  in  rhythm  with  the  larger  life,  — 
the  life  of  the  spirit,  of  which  the  industrial  phase  is  after  all 
but  a  fragment.  The  refining  influence  of  art,  literature,  and 
music  is  what  prevents  the  soul  from  getting  sordid  in  the 
counting-house  atmosphere  and  helps  it  to  realize  that  there 
is  a  larger  life  than  that  of  business. 

For  this  reason  the  study  of  literature  should  be  kept  up 
during  the  entire  course.  A  love  for  the  great  works  of  the 
master-minds  of  the  past,  and  an  appreciation  of  them,  is 
what  the  course  in  literature  should  produce,  so  that  when 
the  student  leaves  school  he  will  still  retain  that  habit  of 
reading  which  will  continue  to  exercise  its  refining  influence 
on  him  and  open  for  him  a  path  for  self-culture.  The  study 
of  music,  similarly,  ought  to  have  as  its  object  not  technical 
proficiency,  but  power  of  appreciation.  This  can  only  be 
gained  by  repeated  listening  to  good  music.  The  school  can 
do  only  a  limited  amount  in  this  direction,  but  as  in  other 
subjects,  it  can  lay  the  foundation  on  which  the  student  can 
build  by  his  own  initiative. 

In  the  teaching  of  drawing  we  find  the  aesthetic  element 
made  a  means  to  an  end,  and  the  teaching  of  art  acquires  a 
utiHtarian  object.  Here  the  achievement  of  the  beautiful  is 
pursued  not  for  its  own  end,  but  because  it  enhances  com- 
mercially the  value  of  the  object  with  which  it  is  associated 
by  making  it  more  in  demand.  The  association  of  the  artis- 
tic with  the  useful  is  a  very  desirable  thing,  —  especially  in 
American  manufactures,  where  the  needs  of  utility  are  apt 
to  interfere  with  aesthetic  requirements.  Europe  has  shown 
us  that  the  requirements  of  both  can  be  met  in  the  same  object, 
and  we  are  slowly  following  suit.  A  greater  appreciation  of 
the  importance  of  the  aesthetic  element  in  commerce  will  add 


40      Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

greatly  to  the  equipment  of  the  man  of  business,  and  make 
him  better  fitted  to  compete  in  the  markets  of  the  world. 

There  are  other  subjects  of  the  curriculum  which  can  be 
made  a  valuable  aid  to  aesthetic  training,  —  bookkeeping,  for 
example.  The  bookkeeper  who  has  learned  to  keep  a  neat 
and  attractive-appearing  set  of  books  is  worth  a  great  deal  to 
his  employer,  not  only  because  his  work  is  striking  to  the  eye, 
but  because  he  takes  pride  in  his  work,  and  is  therefore  apt 
to  be  more  careful  than  the  other.  Habits  of  order  and 
system  have  their  aesthetic  side,  in  addition  to  their  utilitarian, 
in  making  us  love  the  appearance  of  order  and  system,  and 
making  the  exercise  of  those  very  important  habits  easier. 

3.  Training  of  the  Will.  —  By  training  of  the  will  we  mean, 
in  general,  the  training  to  do  and  to  refrain  from  doing  things. 
The  will  expresses  itself  in  activity.  But  while  it  is  involved 
in  all  mental  acts  as  well,  by  a  process  of  abstraction  we 
denominate  only  such  acts  as  acts  of  the  will  in  which  the 
mind  expresses  itself  in  action. 

Now  the  will  involves  deliberation  and  choice  between  a 
conflict  of  motives.  If  these  factors  were  necessary  in  all 
our  actions,  very  little  would  be  accomplished  efficiently. 
But  here  we  are  helped  by  a  remarkable  factor,  —  habit. 
The  law  of  habit  is  that  anything  which  has  to  be  done  with 
conscious  effort  of  will  requires  less  and  less  effort  on  repe- 
tition, until  finally  it  becomes  second  nature,  and  can  be 
done  without  the  intervention  of  consciousness.  The  ability 
to  do  things  this  way  leaves  the  will  free  to  handle  the  larger 
problems  before  it,  and  to  accomplish  complex  tasks  in  virtue 
of  the  power  to  relegate  to  habit  the  details  involved.  Thus 
arises  the  paradox  that  we  train  the  will  in  particular  direc- 
tions by  making  its  use  in  those  directions  unnecessary. 

The  practical  task  for  the  educator,  then,  is  the  developing 


Essentials  and  Value  of  Business  Education  41 

of  habits.  The  test  of  our  ability  to  do  a  thing  is  the  abiUty 
to  do  it  without  thinking.  The  efficient  mechanic  has  de- 
veloped habits  which  enable  him  to  do  good  work.  In  the 
planning  of  his  product  he  has  to  use  his  intellect.  But  the 
details  of  execution  are  adjusted  by  his  habits.  So  the  good 
bookkeeper  does  not  have  to  think  before  he  can  tell  how  to 
journalize  a  transaction.  If  he  had  to  do  so,  it  would  waste 
the  time  of  the  business,  and  prove  that  he  was  not  suffi- 
ciently trained.  It  is  needless  to  point  out  that  the  teach- 
ing of  stenography  is  a  training  of  the  habit  to  form  short- 
hand outlines  without  thinking.  Speed  would  be  entirely 
out  of  the  question  if  the  student  were  not  familiar  with  his 
outHnes  to  such  a  degree  that  he  could  produce  them  auto- 
matically. 

Besides  particular  habits  which  are  important  in  develop- 
ing the  expert  in  the  particular  trade  or  vocation,  there  are 
also  very  essential  general  business  habits,  applying  to  all 
lines  of  activity.  These  are  formed  not  in  connection  with  a 
special  line  of  work,  but  in  the  general  fine  of  business  train- 
ing. Certain  habits  are  indispensable  to  the  success  of  the 
business  man.  The  school  in  its  routine  aims  to  form  these 
habits  which,  once  acquired,  especially  at  the  impressionable 
age  of  school,  are  not  easily  broken.  Some  of  these  are  habits 
of  industry,  economy,  system  and  order,  neatness,  punc- 
tuality, obedience  to  law,  and  certain  habits  more  directly 
spoken  of  as  moral.  The  importance  of  these  habits  is  too 
obvious  to  require  extended  discussion,  but  a  few  words  may 
be  said  on  how  the  school  can  help  the  student  to  acquire  them. 
Industry  and  punctuality  and  obedience  are  of  course  the 
cardinal  virtues  of  the  school,  and  they  are  insisted  upon  not 
for  their  own  sake,  but  because  they  are  requirements  for 
success  in  life.     The  development  of  systematic  habits  is  par- 


42      Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

ticularly  important  in  business,  —  and  the  study  of  office 
practice  and  routine  ought  to  impress  upon  the  mind  of  the 
student  not  so  much  a  particular  way  of  handling  certain 
matters,  but  the  necessity  of  handling  them  systematically. 
System  means  expedition  by  saving  our  time  and  enabling  us 
to  put  our  hands  on  things  when  we  need  them,  a  saving  of 
energy  and  temper.  It  stands  for  efficiency.  "  A  place  for 
everything,  and  everything  in  its  place  "  —  this  ought  to  be 
impressed  upon  the  student. 

The  habit  of  economy  is  a  very  important  one  nowadays, 
for  the  training  of  which  the  school  can  do  something.  An 
examination  of  the  causes  of  high  prices  will  show  that  a  great 
factor  entering  is  that  of  waste.  Too  much  is  wasted  that 
could  be  utilized.  Our  most  successful  industries  are  those 
in  which  waste  is  minimized  and  everything  made  use  of 
either  in  an  increased  main  product  or  in  the  form  of  by- 
products. The  oil  and  meat  industries  are  two  conspicuous 
examples  of  business  economy  and  utilization  of  waste  to  form 
valuable  by-products  of  commerce.  Out  of  a  waste-product 
—  coal  tar,  which  fifty  years  ago  was  thrown  away  —  has 
grown  an  industry  yielding  an  annual  product  of  $50,000,000. 

The  school  will  help  to  develop  in  the  student  the  habit  of 
economy  by  teaching  him  practically  how  to  take  care  of  his 
property  and  of  that  of  the  school  so  as  to  decrease  wear  and 
tear,  and  didactically  by  the  study  of  examples  of  economy 
in  industry,  such  as  described  above. 

There  is  another  habit  which  the  school  develops,  and  which 
is  very  important  in  business,  —  loyalty.  In  school  the  stu- 
dent develops  a  certain  esprit  de  corps  in  virtue  of  his  being 
a  part  of  the  school  organization.  It  takes  the  form  of  school 
pride  and  a  certain  amount  of  unselfish  interest  and  sacrifice 
of  personal  convenience  for  the  sake  of  the  institution.     This 


Essentials  and  Value  of  Business  Education  43 

same  form  of  loyalty  is  manifested  in  life  in  the  shape  of 
patriotism  and  civic  pride. 

Now  it  is  very  desirable  to  imbue  the  student  with  the 
spirit  of  loyalty  to  his  firm  and  to  its  interests,  just  as  the 
house  on  its  part  ought  to  display  toward  its  employee  a  spirit 
of  fair-dealing  and  an  appreciation  of  good  service. 

The  school  can  be  helpful  in  impressing  upon  the  student 
the  fact  that  just  as  he  takes  pride  in  the  welfare  of  the  school 
of  which  he  is  a  member,  so  he  should  take  an  active  interest 
in  the  success  of  the  firm,  to  which  he  ought  to  devote  the 
best  of  his  services,  and  have  a  right  to  expect  appreciation 
in  accordance  with  his  efforts. 

The  discussion  of  the  training  of  moral  habits  is  connected 
with  the  general  problem  of  education,  —  the  aim  of  which 
is  sometimes  said  to  be  the  development  of  character.  Aris- 
totle speaks  of  character  as  a  bundle  of  habits.  In  using  this 
term  he  impHes  that  a  man's  character  is  nothing  but  a  series 
of  dispositions  to  act,  which  have  been  developed  in  the 
course  of  education.  This  view  of  character  simphfies  the 
problem  of  the  educator.  Moral  training  is  principally  the 
development  of  the  habits  of  right  action.  These  must  be 
guided  or  supervised  by  the  insight  of  what  is  right  or  they  do 
not  serve  us  in  a  difficult  situation  to  which  our  habit  is  not 
entirely  adjusted. 

A  complete  discussion  of  the  general  problem  of  moral 
education  is  not  entirely  in  place  in  this  work.  Only  one 
phase  of  it  as  related  to  business  ought  to  be  mentioned  here. 
There  are  certain  notions  of  so-called  business  smartness 
still  prevalent  in  some  circles,  which  are  happily  yielding  to 
a  more  enlightened  conception.  These  find  expression,  per- 
haps, in  the  view  of  an  old  school  of  economists,  that  what 
one  party  gains  in  commerce  the  other  one  loses,  and  when 


44      Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

a  man  "  drives  a  bargain  "  with  another  he  does  so  at  the 
expense  of  the  other.  These  notions  are  only  expressions 
of  a  common  view  of  business,  which  not  only  condones 
misrepresentation  and  sharp  deahng,  but  actually  applauds 
them  by  calling  them  business  knack  and  abihty.  Sound 
economic  theory  has  demonstrated  that  commerce  is  based 
upon  mutual  advantage;  that  in  the  long  run  it  cannot 
prosper  unless  it  is  characterized  by  honesty,  reliabihty, 
truthfulness,  and  fair  deahng.  Firms  which  have  adopted 
these  standards  have  built  up  a  good  name  which  is  their 
most  valuable  asset,  and  constitutes  an  essential  part  of  their 
good  will  in  trade.  They  prize  their  trademark  because  people 
have  learned  to  look  upon  it  as  a  guarantee  that  the  goods 
possess  all  the  quahties  alleged  of  them. 

It  is  a  question  whether  the  school  ought  to  offer  a  special 
course  in  business  ethics.  If  such  a  course  is  given,  it  ought 
to  emphasize  first  that  it  is  the  individual's  duty  to  be  honest 
and  truthful  and  loyal  in  business,  and  secondly,  that  it  is 
the  best  policy  to  be  so,  and  that  it  pays  in  the  long  run. 
Nor  should  emphasis  upon  these  qualities  be  confined  to  the 
course  on  business  ethics.  All  the  other  subjects  offer  abun- 
dant opportunity  for  impressing  these  lessons. 

We  have  now  reviewed  the  essential  subjects  necessary  to 
give  the  student  the  proper  outlook  upon  business,  and  the 
particular  factors  involved  in  his  training.  We  must  again 
make  clear  the  fact  that  the  school  is  only  a  preparation  for 
real  business,  and  that  it  cannot  expect  to  turn  out  a  com- 
pletely trained  business  man.  No  school,  no  matter  how 
fine  its  curriculum  and  efficient  its  instruction,  can  take  the 
place  of  experience  on  the  firing  line  in  contact  with  men. 
But  given  the  man  with  thorough  preHminary  training  enter- 
ing commercial  Hfe,  and  in  a  short  time  he  will  shake  off  his 


Essentials  and  Value  of  Business  Education  45 

diffidence  and  lose  his  awkwardness,  and  come  into  a  position 
in  which  he  can  apply  his  scholastic  learning  to  real  problems 
of  everyday  business,  with  a  larger  mind  and  a  firmer  grasp 
than  the  one  who  "  started  at  the  bottom." 

However,  let  not  the  student  who  has  completed  the  com- 
mercial course  assume  that  his  education  is  complete.  He  is 
only  prepared  to  make  an  intelligent  start.  To  rise  in  his 
field  he  must  keep  abreast  of  the  progress  of  the  times.  Having 
secured  a  general  commercial  culture  in  school,  it  is  now  his 
duty  to  specialize  in  his  studies,  in  the  particular  business 
hne  which  he  has  chosen.  To  provide  such  means  for  special- 
ization is  the  function  of  the  higher  commercial  school. 

The  work  of  the  latter  ought  to  be  especially  fruitful, 
because  its  students  have  actual  business  experience,  and 
are  constantly  in  a  position  to  test  theory  in  practice,  and  to 
interpret  their  practical  experience  in  the  larger  light  of  the 
experience  of  their  masters  in  the  same  field. 

SUMMARY 

The  apprentice  system  in  business  is  rapidly  yielding  to 
special  educational  preparation  in  the  school.  Specializing 
for  business  ought  not  to  be  begun  before  the  general  founda- 
tion in  the  elementary  school  has  been  laid.  The  vocational 
aim,  combined  with  the  culture  and  disciphnary  aim,  should 
rule  in  the  secondary  school.  Higher  and  narrower  speciali- 
zation is  in  place  only  in  the  university  school  of  commerce. 

The  essentials  of  a  business  education  are  discussed  under 
the  heads  of  language,  mathematics,  bookkeeping,  and  account- 
ing, business  practice  and  office  routine,  stenography  and 
typewriting,  science,  technique  of  commerce,  economics,  com- 
mercial geography,  history,  civics,  commercial  law,  and 
miscellaneous  subjects. 


46      Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

Disciplinary  phases  of  business  education :  Business  prac- 
tice, commercial  geography,  and  the  technique  of  commerce 
train  the  power  of  observation ;  commercial  law  is  very  effec- 
tive in  training  the  judgment ;  the  natural  sciences  are  the 
best  subjects  for  inductive  training,  and  mathematics  and 
economics  and  law  the  best  for  deductive  reasoning.  The 
imagination  is  a  power,  the  development  of  which  is  very 
important  to  the  business  man,  because  it  aids  him  in  planning 
ahead,  and  making  a  mental  picture  of  the  results  of  his  plan- 
ning. In  commercial  geography  and  history,  we  find  the 
greatest  scope  for  the  exercise  of  the  imagination. 

A  greater  appreciation  of  the  importance  of  the  aesthetic 
element  in  commerce  will  add  greatly  to  the  equipment  of 
the  man  of  business,  and  make  him  better  fitted  to  compete 
in  the  markets  of  the  world. 

Among  the  business  habits  which  the  school  should  help 
to  develop  are :  industry,  economy,  system  and  order,  neat- 
ness, punctuality,  obedience  to  law,  and  habits  directly  re- 
ferred to  as  moral.  Training  in  both  business  etiquette  and 
ethics  should  be  furnished. 

EXERCISES 

GROUP  ONE 

1.  Discuss  the  need  of  special  commercial  education  in  light  of  the 
fact  that  some  captains  of  industry  are  self-made  men. 

2.  What  influence  has  the  disappearance  of  the  apprenticeship  system 
had  upon  the  need  of  vocational  training  in  school  ? 

3.  What  general  scheme  of  education  would  you  advise  for  the  boy 
who  expected  eventually  to  take  his  father's  place  as  the  head  of  a  dry 
goods  concern  ?     Give  reasons. 

4.  Why  should  music,  physical  training,  and  literature  be  included 
in  the  curriculum  of  a  commercial  high  school  ?     Discuss  fully. 

5.  Should  foreign  languages  be  studied  by  pupils  who  wish  to  train 


Essentials  and  Value  of  Business  Education  47 

for  a  business  career?  Why?  Which  would  you  include  in  the  cur- 
riculum ?  On  what  basis  would  you  advise  a  student  to  make  his  choice 
of  a  language  ? 

6.  Discuss  the  place  of  the  sciences,  history,  and  mathematics  in  com- 
mercial secondary  education. 

7.  Of  what  ctdtural  and  disciplinary  value  are  a  study  of  (a)  bookkeep- 
ing, (b)  stenography,  (c)  commercial  law  ? 

8.  Every  scheme  of  education  should  provide  for  the  development  of 
observation,  judgment,  reasoning,  and  imagination.  Show  how  the 
ideal  commercial  programme  meets  these  requirements. 

GROUP  TWO 

1.  Assume  that  you  are  in  charge  of  a  commercial  high  school,  and 
that  you  wish  your  teachers  to  form  a  reading  circle.  Plan  a  course  of 
eight  topics  on  educational  psychology,  which  will  have  sequence,  and 
which  will  cover  the  subject  in  the  school  year.  Indicate  specific  refer- 
ences for  each  topic. 

2.  Outline  a  talk  on  the  psychologic  and  pedagogic  bases  of  commercial 
education,  suitable  for  delivery  before  a  convention  of  teachers. 

3.  Prepare  a  detailed  set  of  instruction  for  the  history,  English,  and 
science  teachers  of  a  commercial  high  school  which  would  aid  them  in 
modifying  their  usual  instruction  so  as  to  make  it  available  for  com- 
mercial pupils. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Conference  on  Commercial  Education,    University   of  Illinois   Bulletin, 

Vol.  3,  No.  8,  1908. 
Curry,  J.  S.,  Past,  Present  and  Future  of  Commercial  Education.     N.  E.  A. 

Report,  1910,  p.  835. 
Eliot,  C.  W.    Commercial  Education.    Educational  Review,  Vol.  18, 

1899. 
Haskins,   C.  W.,  Business  Education  and  Accountancy.     New  York, 

Harper,  1904. 
Hatfield,    H.    R.     Lectures    on    Commerce.     Chicago,    University   of 

Chicago  Press,  1907. 
Herrick,  C.  a.    Meaning  and  Practice  of  Commercial  Education.    New 

York,  Macmillan  Co.,  1904. 


48      Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

Hooper  and  Grail\m,   Commercial  Education   at   Home  and  Abroad. 

London,  Macmillan  Co.,  1901. 
JUDSON,  H.  P.,  Higher  Education  as  a  Training  for  Business.     Chicago, 

University  of  Chicago  Press,  igii. 
Vanderlip,  F.  a.,  Business  and  Education.    New  York,  Diifl5eld,  1907. 
Ware,  F.,  Educational  Faundations  of  Trade  and  Industry.    New  York, 

Appleton  &  Co.,  1901. 


CHAPTER  II 

The  Course  of  Study  of  the  Secondary  Commercial 

School 

the  problem 

In  the  previous  chapter  we  discussed  the  subject  of  the 
essentials  of  a  business  education,  in  the  course  of  which  we 
had  to  consider  the  choice  of  subjects  to  be  taught  and  their 
educational  values.  The  question  to  be  considered  here  is, 
how  can  these  subjects  be  arranged  in  a  four  years'  com- 
mercial course  so  as  to  furnish  on  the  one  hand  a  graded 
course  of  special  instruction,  and  on  the  other  a  proper  cor- 
relation with  the  other  subjects  requisite  to  the  general  cul- 
ture of  the  individual. 

And  here  comes  the  first  question  that  challenges  our 
attention.  Shall  the  curriculum  of  the  commercial  high 
school  be  based  upon  that  of  the  general  secondary  school, 
with  the  substitution  of  commercial  subjects  for  some  of  the 
general  academic  subjects?  Or  shall  the  entire  course  of 
study  be  arranged  solely  with  a  view  to  the  aim  for  which 
we  are  preparing  the  pupil,  viz.,  to  fit  him  to  take  his  place 
in  his  vocational  environment  ?  If  the  first  is  to  be  our  basis, 
then  the  work  of  mapping  out  the  course  must  be  left  to  the 
educator  who  lays  out  the  general  course,  with  such  special 
assistance  as  he  may  choose  to  get  from  the  commercial 
teacher,  in  the  matter  of  placing  those  subjects  in  the  schedules. 
But  this  arrangement  hardly  satisfies  the  true  function  of  the 

E  49 


50      Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

commercial  school.  The  latter  is  not  an  ordinary  secondary 
school,  with  the  substitution  of  bookkeeping  and  stenography 
for  certain  of  the  subjects.  The  course  of  study  in  the  special- 
ized school  we  are  considering  should  not  parallel  the  general 
secondary  course  but  should  aim  at  the  construction  of  an 
entirely  new  curriculum  with  an  aim  somewhat  different  from 
that  of  the  ordinary  high  school,  or  in  which  all  subjects  — 
the  commercial  as  well  as  the  others  —  shall  contribute  to 
the  attainment  of  the  practical  end. 

The  planning  of  such  a  curriculum  requires  a  person  who 
has  the  broad  vocational  outlook,  as  well  as  a  deep  view  of 
the  philosophy  of  education  :  one  who  understands  how  to 
blend  the  practical  with  the  disciplinary  elements  in  educa- 
tion, so  as  to  secure  the  latter  without  sacrificing  the  former. 
Perhaps  no  individual  is  competent  to  carry  out  a  difficult 
task  of  this  kind,  without  the  advice  and  cooperation  of 
representatives  of  all  the  departments.  And  the  advice  of 
these  speciaKsts  will  be  worth  while  only  to  the  extent  to 
which  they,  too,  have  the  vocational  point  of  view. 

Before  attempting  to  construct  such  a  course,  we  must 
again  examine  the  principles  upon  which  it  should  be  based. 
The  two  questions  which  every  curriculum  answers  are,  first, 
what  subjects  shall  we  teach,  and  secondly,  in  what  order 
shall  we  teach  them?  The  first  question  we  attempted  to 
answer  in  the  preceding  chapter,  and  we  only  need  to  recapit- 
ulate some  of  the  essential  points. 

The  choice  of  subjects  is  primarily  determined  by  the 
consideration  of  the  civilization  of  which  the  individual  is  a 
part,  and  particularly  by  the  specific  vocational  environ- 
ment in  which  he  will  take  his  place  after  he  completes  his 
studies  at  school.  Our  knowledge,  therefore,  of  the  nature 
and  requirements  of  business  life,  determines  us  in  the  selec- 


Course  of  Study  of  Secondary  Commercial  School      51 

tion  of  the  subjects.  But  other  studies,  not  directly  voca- 
tional, press  their  claims,  and  some  of  these  we  recognize  the 
justice  of  and  admit  them  into  the  course  for  these  reasons : 

(i)  They  may  be  necessary  to  widen  the  horizon  of  the  pupil,  whose 
confinement  to  the  vocational  subject  is  apt  to  render  him  oblivious  to  the 
importance  of  other  fields  of  business  achievement.  An  insight  of  this 
interrelation  is  not  only  important  from  the  cultural  point  of  view,  but 
also  from  a  practical  business  point.  A  proper  study  of  related  fields 
will  give  the  student  a  better  grasp  of  the  meaning  of  his  own. 

(2)  The  subjects  may  be  necessary  to  develop  the  intellectual  grasp 
of  the  student,  without  which  he  will  find  it  difficult  to  handle  some  of 
the  advanced  commercial  subjects.  This  consideration  is  particularly 
important  in  the  arrangement  of  the  syllabus  for  the  individual  subjects 
which  are  not  primarily  commercial,  but  which  are  taken  up  because  of 
the  commercial  applications  to  which  they  lead.  Now  the  study  of  these 
applications  is  very  unfruitful  unless  it  is  based  upon  a  sound  view  of  the 
fundamental  principles  of  the  subject.  Examples  of  subjects  of  this  type 
are  mathematics  and  chemistry. 

(3)  There  is  another  group  of  subjects  which  we  include  in  the  high 
school,  because  they  are  necessary  for  the  education  of  the  whole  man : 
physical  training  and  hygiene  for  the  physical  man,  and  music  for  the 
aesthetic  man.  It  is  a  fact  that  may  be  noted  here,  by  the  way,  that  these 
two  subjects,  so  often  relegated  among  the  non-essentials,  were  the  two 
comprehensive  subjects  of  education  of  the  Athenian  people  —  the  most 
highly  cultured  nation  that  ever  existed. 

Taking  all  these  principles  of  choice,  the  educator  is  still 
confronted  with  a  difficult  task.  So  many  subjects  press  for 
attention  to  be  admitted  into  the  curriculum,  that  it  becomes 
as  much  a  question  of  what  subjects  we  shall  admit  with  the 
greatest  advantage,  as  what  subjects  we  can  exclude  with 
the  least  disadvantage. 

Ha\dng  decided  what  subjects  we  will  admit  into  the  curric- 
ulum, we  have  to  consider  in  what  order  of  time  we  shall 
teach  them,  and  how  much  time  we  shall  devote  to  each : 


52      Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

in  other  words,  the  construction  of  the  course  of  study  proper. 
This  question  the  educator  can  only  answer  successfully  with 
the  cooperation  of  the  various  departments  of  study  con- 
cerned. 

The  speciahst  in  commercial  education  can  only  give 
general  directions  to  the  other  departments  as  to  what  re- 
quirements of  business  the  study  of  their  subject  ought  to 
meet.  It  would  be  the  height  of  presumption  and  a  gross 
interference  with  their  prerogatives,  were  he  to  dictate  to  the 
specialists  in  the  other  subjects  what  order  and  arrangement 
of  topics  should  be  adopted  in  the  teaching  of  their  specialties. 

Each  department  must  therefore  work  out  its  syllabus  in 
accordance  with  the  time  allotted  to  its  subjects  in  the  course. 
But  to  do  this  work  with  success  and  in  sympathy  with  the 
aim  of  the  commercial  course,  the  teachers  of  the  other 
specialties  must  keep  in  touch  with  the  requirements  of  the 
business  world,  which  the  study  of  their  subject  will  meet. 

As  we  implied  by  one  of  our  previous  statements,  the  pro- 
gramme builder  must  determine  the  allotment  of  time  to  the 
different  departments,  not  arbitrarily,  but  after  an  examina- 
tion of  the  various  maximum  and  minimum  demands  or  esti- 
mates by  the  various  departments.  And  the  result  of  this 
examination  in  assigning  a  number  of  periods  to  a  subject  is 
not  to  be  considered  as  a  measure  of  its  absolute  value,  but 
as  a  determination  of  its  importance,  modified  by  the  grant- 
ing of  the  rightful  demands  of  other  important  subjects. 

The  following  course  is  constructed  on  the  basis  of  a  four 
years'  course  with  twenty-eight  periods  of  work  per  week, 
each  period  of  the  length  of  forty-five  minutes.  Counting 
thirty  periods  to  the  week,  this  would  leave  two  periods  of 
unassigned  work,  which  might  be  devoted  to  study,  confer- 
ence, and  general  assembly  periods. 


Course  of  Study  of  Secondary  Commercial  School      53 


COURSE   OF   STUDY 


First  Year 

Second  Year 

Subjects                               Periods 

Subjects 

Periods 

EngUsh 

4 

English 

4 

German 

German  1 

or 

4 

or 

4 

Spanish  . 

Spanish  J 

Algebra 

4 

Plane  Geometry    "> 
or  Stenography  j 

4 

Industrial  Biology 

4 

Commercial  Arithmetic 

2 

Industrial  Chemistry 

4 

Business  Writing  and  Forms 

3 

History 

3 

City  Industries  and  Munici- 

Bookkeeping and  Office 

pal  Activities 

2 

Practice 

4 

Music 

I 

Drawing  (or  Shopwork) 

2 

Physical  Training 

2 

Physical  Training 

2 

Drawing 

2 

Music 

I 

Total 

28 

Total 

28 

TraRD  Year 

Fourth  Year 

English 

4 

English 

4 

German 

German  ] 

or       • 

4 

or       • 

4 

Spanish  J 

Spanish  . 

History 

3 

History  (U.  S.)  and  Civil 

Physics 

4 

Government 

3 

Bookkeeping 

3 

Commercial  Law 

3 

Commercial  Geography 

3 

Economics 

4 

Arithmetic 

I 

Technique  of 

Commerce  > 
Mathematics . 

2 

3 

Accounting  and 

Auditing 
Technique  of 

Commerce 

4 
2 

or 

or 

Stenography 

Stenography  ] 

and 

7 

and 

8 

Typewriting  J 

Typewriting  . 

Physical  Training 

2 

Practicum  (Observation) 

I 

Physical  Trainin 

g 

2 

Total 


28  or  30  Total 


28  or  30 


54      Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

Principles  upon  which  Electives  are  Offered 

We  may  group  the  courses  of  the  school  of  commerce  into  three  divi- 
sions: (i)  the  course  in  commerce;  (2)  the  bookkeeping  course;  (3) 
the  stenographic  course.  As  a  matter  of  practical  desirability  and 
convenience,  it  will  be  found  best  to  combine  (i)  and  (2)  into  one  course. 
This  will  give  us  a  new  division  into  groups  as  follows :  (i)  the  commerce- 
bookkeeping  course ;  and  (2)  the  stenographic  course. 

It  will  be  shown  in  the  succeeding  comments  on  the  course  of  study 
that,  as  stenography  and  typewriting  are  technical  subjects,  of  little 
practical  advantage  to  any  but  those  who  expect  to  become  stenographers, 
they  will  have  to  be  excluded  from  group  (i).  On  the  other  hand,  it 
will  be  explained  in  this  chapter  below,  that  a  stenographer  should  be 
equipped  with  a  pretty  thorough  knowledge  of  commerce  and  bookkeep- 
ing, in  addition  to  his  special  acquirement. 

Now,  if  we  offer  courses  in  commerce  and  bookkeeping,  as  a  part  of 
group  (2),  the  question  arises  as  to  how  we  shall  make  room  for  stenog- 
raphy. In  the  first  year  the  question  does  not  arise.  But  in  the  second 
and  third  years  the  subject  is  parallel  with  mathematics  which  the 
accountant  needs  for  its  training  in  methods  of  analysis,  but  which  we  may 
dispense  with  in  the  stenographic  course  to  much  better  advantage  than 
chemistry  or  the  foreign  language.  (The  study  of  the  latter,  by  the  way, 
may  be  of  great  assistance  to  the  correspondence  branch  of  the  busi- 
ness.) 

To  make  room  for  additional  work  in  typewriting  we  shall  have  to 
take  out  an  additional  subject  from  course  (i)  in  the  third  year, —  the 
technique  of  commerce.  Additional  work  in  tj^iewriting  is  also  provided 
by  increasing  the  number  of  periods  of  the  stenographic  course  to  thirty 
per  week  in  the  third  and  fourth  years.  In  the  fourth  year,  —  accounting 
and  the  technique  of  commerce  are  made  elective,  to  make  room  for  ste- 
nography. 

An  examination  of  course  (2)  (the  stenographic  course)  will  show  that 
it  provides  a  very  fair  training  in  the  subjects  of  commerce  (commercial 
geography,  economics,  etc.),  a  good  training  in  bookkeeping,  and  a 
thorough  training  in  stenography.  Thus  provision  is  made  for  the  stu- 
dent who  wants  to  become  both  bookkeeper  and  stenographer,  and 
additional  facilities  are  given  to  him  to  obtain  an  acquaintance  with  the 
meaning  and  function  of  commerce. 


Course  of  Study  of  Secondary  Commercial  School      55 

EXPLANATORY   REMARKS    ON    THE    SUBJECTS    OF    THE    COURSE 

English.  Literature.  —  The  study  of  literary  masterpieces 
is  undertaken  in  all  the  four  years,  with  the  same  object  as 
in  all  schools,  —  the  appreciation  of  our  great  masterpieces. 

Grammar  and  Composition.  —  The  mastery  of  Enghsh  for 
commercial  rather  than  literary  purposes  is  emphasized. 
Grammar  is  reviewed  and  the  principles  of  composition  are 
studied,  and  practice  given  in  descriptive  and  narrative  themes, 
based  on  practical,  rather  than  Hterary  topics.  Commercial 
correspondence  should  form  an  important  part  of  the  work. 

In  the  second  year  the  student  makes  a  special  study  of 
exposition,  and  writes  themes  on  commercial  processes  and 
other  technical  matters.  There  is  always  a  good  opportunity 
to  correlate  by  selecting  themes  from  other  departments  of 
study,  especially  those  in  commercial  subjects.  In  the  third 
year  the  student  is  offered  practice  in  special  commercial 
topics,  Uke  writing  reports  on  various  business  matters,  ad- 
dressed to  the  employer ;  writing  and  arrangement  of  adver- 
tisements ;   condensing  letters  into  telegrams,  etc. 

In  the  fourth  year  the  principles  of  argumentation  are 
taken  up.  The  topics  for  debate  are  then  based  principally 
upon  economics.  Debating  is  a  regular  class  exercise  and 
not  left  to  literary  societies.  The  advantages  are,  that  the 
student  gets  a  good  grasp  on  the  questions  of  the  day,  and 
learns  how  to  express  himself  fluently,  clearly,  and  forcibly. 
Practice  in  written  compositions  is  given  to  him  by  the  re- 
quirements of  a  thesis  embodying  the  results  of  his  own 
observations  in  practical  business,  tested  by  the  general  prin- 
ciples which  he  has  learned.  As  in  the  other  three  years, 
there  is  practice  in  writing  short  themes,  and  besides,  an 
intensive  study  of  trade  reports  and  trade  journals. 


56      Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

Foreign  Languages.  —  The  student  is  given  the  choice  of 
German  or  Spanish.  It  is  idle  for  him  to  attempt  two  foreign 
languages,  for  unless  he  can  undertake  a  language  in  order 
to  obtain  some  degree  of  mastery  of  it,  his  time  will  be  prac- 
tically wasted.  And  to  study  a  language  for  less  than  four 
years  for  any  practical  advantage  is  out  of  the  question.  As 
to  the  study  of  the  language  itself,  the  purpose  of  taking  it 
should  be  mainly  a  practical  one,  —  to  facilitate  the  student's 
work  in  his  future  relations  with  the  country  whose  language 
he  is  studying.  Conversation,  technical  phraseology,  and 
commercial  correspondence  are  therefore  of  far  more  impor- 
tance than  the  literature  or  the  philology  of  the  language. 
As  to  why  French  is  omitted  from  the  list  of  languages  to 
choose  from,  it  is  clear  that  while  it  is  the  language  of 
diplomacy  and  polite  society,  it  is  not  of  coordinate  impor- 
tance commercially  with  Spanish  and  German. 

Mathematics.  —  In  the  discussion  of  mathematics  under 
this  heading,  we  do  not  specifically  refer  to  commercial 
arithmetic,  which  is  treated  separately,  because  the  commer- 
cial side  of  it  is  more  important  than  the  mathematical  one. 
The  question  often  arises,  Why  should  we  teach  mathematics 
at  all?  The  answer  generally  given  mentions  the  disci- 
plinary value  of  the  study :  its  development  of  the  power  of 
reasoning,  habits  of  accuracy,  etc.  But  to  include  the  sub- 
ject for  three  years  in  a  commercial  curriculum,  we  must 
give  a  more  satisfactory  reason,  because  there  are  a  number 
of  other  subjects  which  are  just  as  valuable  as  mathematics 
in  their  training  of  the  mind.  Nor  does  it  always  follow  that 
the  mathematician's  reasoning  power  is  good  in  other  than 
the  abstract  field  of  mathematics.  We  must  reenforce  our 
argument  for  the  study  of  mathematics  by  reference  to  its 
utiHtarian  value. 


Course  of  Study  of  Secondary  Commercial  School      57 

Mathematics,  in  particular  algebra,  gives  us  a  new  language, 
a  symbolic  one,  which  is  indispensable  in  many  calculations 
relating  to  values.  It  is  entirely  impossible  to  understand 
many  of  the  aspects  of  accounting  without  a  knowledge  of 
the  meaning  and  the  manipulation  of  formulas.  Nor  can  we 
understand  calculations  in  chemistry  and  physics  without  use 
of  such  formulas.  It  is  needless  to  refer  to  the  fact  that  many 
problems  of  higher  arithmetic  can  be  solved  more  rationally 
and  with  greater  ease  by  algebra. 

First  Year.    Algebra  is  prescribed  for  all  students. 

Second  Year.  Plane  Geometry,  —  a  subject  which,  if  well 
taught,  is  a  great  stimulus  to  the  imagination  and  to  inven- 
tiveness, and  to  the  power  of  sustained  thinking.  It  is  not 
offered  to  those  who  pursue  the  stenographic  course. 

In  the  third  year  the  student  returns  to  algebra  as  an  elec- 
tive. He  emphasizes  particularly  those  phases  of  it  which 
are  necessary  for  finance.  Logarithms  are  studied,  because 
they  faciUtate  financial  calculations.  Among  other  topics 
are  progression,  permutations  and  combinations,  and  the 
theory  of  probabilities.  The  mathematics  of  finance  is  in- 
cluded in  this  year :  such  as  compound  interest,  present 
worth,  annuities,  investments,  Hfe  insurance,  etc. 

Industrial  Biology.  —  It  was  pointed  out  before  that  while 
a  study  of  biologic  processes  is  necessary  as  a  theoretic  founda- 
tion, the  study  should  lead  up  to  the  economic  aspect  of  the 
subject :  how  these  processes  affect  man  in  his  Hfe  and  in  his 
acti\'ities.  Botany  is  of  course  a  very  important  aspect  of 
this  subject,  because  many  of  the  materials  of  commerce  are 
of  vegetable  origin.  In  constructing  his  course  the  teacher  will 
take  up  among  other  topics  the  raising  of  plants,  the  bio- 
logical history  of  the  plants  of  commerce,  and  their  prepara- 
tion for  the  market.     A  study  of  the  diseases  affecting  plants 


58      Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

and  their  inilucnce  on  commerce  is  also  to  be  undertaken, 
together  with  a  study  of  their  remedies. 

Industrial  Chemistry.  —  The  course  in  Industrial  Chemis- 
tr}-  is  intended  to  be  given  the  second  year  of  the  course. 
Starting  with  the  theoretic  basis  of  chemistr\',  —  chemical 
law  and  processes,  —  and  the  principal  elements,  it  specializes 
in  the  direction  of  the  industrial  applications.  The  field  is 
large,  and  the  teacher  will  find  himself  at  a  loss  what  topic 
to  select.  But  some  study  should  be  devoted  to  the  follow- 
ing :  Chemistry  of  coal ;  f>etroleum  and  its  refinement ;  illu- 
minating gas  ;  chemistrj'  of  the  soil  and  fertilization  ;  the  ores 
and  their  reduction ;  dyestufTs ;  chemistry  of  food ;  food 
preservations  and  food  adulteration  ;  the  chemistry  of  stains ; 
the  chemistr>'  of  fabrics. 

Physics.  —  Physics  follows  chemistr>',  and  is  taken  up  in 
the  third  year.  The  usual  course  in  elementary  physics  is 
followed  with  special  attention  to  the  industrial  phases,  such 
as  machines,  motive  power,  the  steam  engine,  and  electricity 
and  its  applications.  To  make  room  for  many  of  the  applica- 
tions of  physics  it  may  be  necessar>'  to  eliminate  a  great  deal 
of  the  mathematics  of  the  subject. 

History.  —  The  course  in  history-  brings  up  the  question 
whether  the  historj'  of  commerce  ought  to  be  taught  as  a 
separate  course  and  in  the  department  of  commercial  subjects. 
On  the  whole,  we  believe  that  the  history  of  commerce  had 
best  be  taught  as  a  part  of  the  general  historical  course,  — 
first,  because  taking  it  out  of  the  regular  course  deprives  it  of 
its  proper  background,  and  secondly,  because  the  commercial 
teacher  is  apt  to  lack  the  historical  perspective.  In  view  of 
the  fact  that  historical  students  are  concentrating  their  atten- 
tion more  and  more  on  the  social  and  economic  side  of  historj', 
and  are  subordinating  the  political  and  military'  side ;   and  as 


Course  of  Stu^y  0/  Se^ond'iry  Commercial  School      59 

modem  text-books  are  written  with  this  in  \-iew.  it  would  be 
safe  to  leave  the  histon.-  of  commerce  to  the  department  of 
general  histon.'. 

The  first  half  year  of  the  second  year  will  be  devoted  to  a 
rapid  survey  of  Greece  and  Rome,  leaxing  a  year  and  a  half 
for  general  histors'.  \^-ith  special  attention  to  English  and 
modem  German  political  and  economic  histor>-. 

The  fourth  year  will  take  .\merican  histor>-  and  d\-il  gov- 
ernment .\n  important  part  of  the  study  of  our  govern- 
ment should  be  devoted  to  a  detailed  inquir>-  into  its  depart- 
ments, their  administration,  and  particularly  their  relation 
to  commerce.  Those  of  greatest  importance  to  the  business 
man  are  of  course  the  Treasury-  Department  the  Department 
of  Commerce,  the  Post-office  Department,  and  the  Depart- 
ment of  Agriculture. 

COMMERCIAL  SUBJECTS.  Industries  and  Commerce 
of  the  City.  —  This  Cv.»ur=<:  is  prescribed  for  the  drsi  hai:  year. 
It  forms  the  proper  introduction  to  commercial  geography  and 
to  technique  of  conmierce  in  general ;  for  many  of  the  industrial 
acti\-ities  of  the  world  are  exemplified  in  or  about  a  local 
centre.  The  same  reasons  that  apply  to  beginning  general 
geography  with  the  study  of  the  home  en\-ironment  apply 
with  equal  or  greater  force  to  b^inning  conmierdal  geography 
with  the  industries  and  commerce  of  the  dty  or  locahty  in 
which  the  schcvl  is  situated. 

Municipal  Activities.  — This  course  continues  the  study  of  the 
dtv  with  reference  to  the  poUtical  and  economic  actix-ities  of 
the  city  govemment.  While  a  knowledge  of  how  the  dt>-  is 
govemed  is,  of  course,  one  of  the  prindpal  aims  to  be  at- 
tained by  this  course,  it  is  by  no  means  the  only  one.  The 
administjation  of  the  dty  is  like  that  of  a  great  corporation ; 
munidpal  problems  outside  of  governmental  ones  continuany 


6o      Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

confront  us.  This  course  would  therefore  include  the  con- 
sideration of  civic  problems  such  as  the  transit,  the  city 
beautiful,  congestion  of  population,  health,  and  other  prob- 
lems. 

Commercial  Geography.  —  This  course  is  set  down  for  the 
third  year.  It  may  arouse  some  comment  why  the  course  is 
postponed  to  such  a  late  period,  as  in  some  commercial 
schools  it  is  actually  taught  in  the  first  year.  If,  however, 
the  course  is  to  be  preceded  by  one  on  the  locality,  it  is 
out  of  the  question  to  give  it  before  the  second  year ;  and  it 
is  best  to  defer  it  until  the  third  year,  for  reasons  that  will  be 
apparent.  It  must  be  understood  that  commercial  geography 
is  not  a  mere  study  of  a  Ust  of  countries,  their  chief  products 
and  commercial  ports,  etc.,  although  it  is  often  studied  as  a 
catalogue  of  facts. 

If  properly  taught,  it  is  designed  to  develop  real  power  in 
the  student,  to  awaken  in  his  mind  a  view  of  our  commercial 
standing,  our  trade  problems,  our  commercial  rivals,  and  the 
possibiUty  of  expansion.  It,  therefore,  would  take  minds  of 
some  maturity  to  undertake  such  a  study.  Our  third-year 
student  will  have  a  good  preliminary  training  in  his  study  of 
industrial  geography  of  the  locality  and  in  his  courses  on 
biology  and  chemistry,  which  constitute  a  scientific  course  on 
the  materials  of  commerce.  The  latter,  in  a  crude  fashion, 
is  frequently  included  in  commercial  geography.  After  the 
student  has  been  grounded  in  biology  and  chemistry,  his 
review  of  materials  of  commerce  in  connection  with  his  com- 
mercial geography  is  much  more  than  a  mere  study  of  a 
cut  and  dried  catalogue  of  products.  We  have  mentioned  the 
fact  that  the  course  on  commercial  geography  should  include 
the  careful  consideration  of  trade  problems,  —  such  as  com- 
petition in  the  world's  markets,  the  Oriental  trade,  and  the 


Course  of  Study  of  Secondary  Commercial  School      6i 

probable  effect  of  the  European  War  on  the  commerce  of  our 
country  and  that  of  the  combatants. 

Commercial  Arithmetic. — Provision  is  made  for  this  subject 
in  the  first  year  for  two  periods  a  week.  It  includes  not  alone 
a  thorough  drill  in  fundamental  operations  but  also  the  hand- 
ling and  solution  of  practical  business  problems  of  calculation. 
In  the  last  year  of  the  course,  one  period  a  week  devoted  to 
the  study  rounds  out  the  practical  knowledge  of  the  student, 
and  gives  excellent  material  for  correlation  with  accounting 
and  economics.  The  teacher  of  advanced  arithmetic  should 
not  fail  to  take  advantage  of  the  student's  knowledge  of  algebra 
in  order  to  simplify,  organize,  and  rationalize  this  part  of  the 
work. 

Business  Technique.  —  This  course  is  preparatory  to  the 
course  in  bookkeeping.  It  includes,  in  the  first  half  year, 
practice  in  penmanship,  and  in  the  second  half  year  the  study 
of  business  forms  such  as  checks,  drafts,  bills,  invoices,  and 
other  forms  in  every-day  use  in  business. 

Bookkeeping  and  Office  Practice.  —  In  the  second  year  of 
the  course  the  elements  of  single  and  double  entry  are  taken 
up  as  applied  to  various  forms  of  business. 

In  the  third  year  more  advanced  work  is  taken,  such  as  cor- 
poration books,  specialized  sets,  etc.  For  a  detailed  discussion 
see  the  special  chapter  on  bookkeeping. 

Accounting.  —  Provision  is  made  for  a  whole  year's  study 
of  the  subject.  What  shall  we  include  in  it?  As  a  special 
chapter  will  be  devoted  to  it,  it  need  only  to  be  considered 
briefly  here.  The  elementary  theory  of  the  whole  subject 
will  be  taken  up.  It  will  be  a  deductive  study  of  what  was 
done  inductively  or  empirically  in  bookkeeping.  To  under- 
stand the  place  of  accounting,  we  may  use  the  analogy  of 
geometry  here.     Our  first  knowledge  of  geometrical  facts  was 


62      Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

empirical ;  that  is,  obtained  from  experience.  The  human 
mind  then  recast  its  body  of  knowledge  into  a  system,  by 
deducing  it  from  fundamental  principles.  The  relation  be- 
tween bookkeeping  and  accounting,  then,  is  the  same  as  that 
between  empirical  geometry  and  EucHdean  geometry. 

But  besides  the  scientific  study  of  the  theory  of  accounts 
the  course  will  include  the  study  of  auditing  ;  and  also  practical 
accounting.  In  addition  to  the  solution  of  accounting  prob- 
lems there  will  be  continual  practice  in  the  interpretation  of 
accounts,  in  cost  accounting,  in  deductions  to  be  drawn  from 
profit  and  loss  statements  and  balance  sheets,  and  in  recom- 
mendations to  be  made  on  the  basis  of  these  statements. 

Economics.  —  This  study  necessarily  comes  the  last  year : 
first,  because  of  its  difficulty ;  secondly,  because  before  any 
person  can  be  in  a  position  to  draw  economic  conclusions,  he 
must  have  a  large  basis  of  fact.  In  the  fourth  year  the  stu- 
dent can  handle  economic  problems  intelligently,  because  he 
has  three  years  of  stored-up  experience  to  draw  upon.  There 
can  be  no  question,  of  course,  as  to  the  importance  of  the 
subject,  as  economics  is  the  philosophy  of  business.  The 
course  should  be  supplemented  by  a  study  of  the  principles 
and  practice  of  corporate  and  public  finance. 

Technique  of  Commerce  and  Industry.  —  This  subject  is 
provided  for  in  the  third  and  fourth  year  of  the  course.  It 
is  not  offered  to  the  students  of  stenography.  Only  a  few 
brief  remarks  will  be  made  here  on  this  subject,  as  it  will  be 
treated  at  length  in  a  succeeding  chapter.  Most  of  the  topics 
under  this  subject  are  such  as  would  be  included  in  a  course 
on  applied  economics.  Among  the  topics  in  the  third  year 
are  the  forms  of  industry :  (i)  extractive,  (2)  manufacturing, 
(3)  distributing.  Under  (i)  we  shall  discuss  agriculture, 
piining)  and  fisheries.     To  differentiate  this  course  from  that 


Course  of  Study  of  Secondary  Commercial  School      63 

of  commercial  geography,  we  shall  discuss  processes  and 
problems  of  these  industries  and  preparation  for  market. 
Under  (2)  the  question  of  location  and  organization  of  manu- 
facturing plants,  motive  power,  etc.,  will  be  discussed. 
Under  (3)  we  shall  consider  the  organization  of  business  for 
distribution  :  the  wholesaler  and  the  retailer ;  the  corporation  ; 
the  trust.  The  study  of  preparation  for  the  market  and  the 
technique  involved,  such  as  methods  of  packing  and  trans- 
portation, etc.,  is  a  part  of  the  course. 

In  the  fourth  year  under  the  same  title.  Railway  Transpor- 
tation will  be  studied  in  detail.  Money  and  credit  will  be 
taken  up,  including  such  topics  as  banking,  the  exchanges,  the 
commercial  credit  system,  etc.  Perhaps  in  this  course,  as 
appropriately  as  in  any  other,  business  ethics  might  be  con- 
sidered. 

Commercial  Law.  —  Three  periods  a  week  are  assigned  to 
this  subject  in  the  last  year.  While  a  good  text-book  is  used 
in  this  work,  references  to  the  sources  of  the  law  are  not  to  be 
overlooked,  and  whererer  possible,  some  leading  cases  are 
to  be  studied  at  first  hand.  A  special  chapter  in  this  book  is 
devoted  to  the  aims  and  methods  of  the  subject. 

Drawing  and  Illustrating.  —  In  the  work  in  drawing,  the 
utilitarian  element  is  quite  as  prominent  as  the  aesthetic. 
A  handiness  with  the  pencil  and  brush  are  quite  desirable  in 
commercial  life,  as  well  as  a  readiness  with  the  tongue  and 
pen.  The  course  is  offered  the  first  two  years,  but  where 
there  are  facilities,  shopwork  may  be  given  as  an  alternative, 
for  the  work  of  the  second  year.  The  value  of  manual  train- 
ing to  the  business  man  is  quite  obvious.  No  amount  of  theo- 
retical study  can  give  the  student  as  good  an  insight  into  the 
construction  of  things  about  him,  as  practice  in  making  them 
himself. 


64      Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

The  course  in  drawing  will  include  lettering  and  design, 
illustrating  and  arranging  advertisements,  and  perhaps  some 
mechanical  drawing. 

Stenography  and  Typewriting.  —  This  is,  of  course,  a  very 
important  subject  of  the  commercial  curriculum,  but  it  ranks 
more  as  a  special  accomplishment  than  as  a  subject  of  general 
utility  to  the  commercial  student.  For  a  student  who  is  not 
going  to  be  a  stenographer  the  benefits  derived  will  be  entirely 
incommensurate  with  the  time  devoted  to  it ;  and  if  he  has  no 
occasion  to  practise  it,  he  will  forget  it  entirely.  For  these 
reasons  the  course  is  made  elective. 

It  may  be  asked  why  the  student  of  stenography  should 
take  practically  the  entire  curriculum  instead  of  devoting 
his  time  to  making  himself  more  efficient  in  his  specialty. 
In  answer  we  may  say,  that  aside  from  the  general  culture 
that  the  entire  course  gives  him,  the  stenographer  gets  a 
thorough  insight  into  business,  and  fits  himself  for  a  position 
of  larger  responsibiUty.  Many  stenographers  have  risen  to 
managing  positions  in  the  business.*  We  do  not  want  to 
educate  stenographers  who  are  mere  machines,  but  intelligent 
students  of  business  who  realize  the  meaning  and  opportunities 
of  the  business  in  which  they  are  employed.  An  extremely 
valuable  part  of  their  preparation  is,  of  course,  the  thorough 
study  of  EngHsh.  At  the  same  time  we  must  bear  in  mind 
that  the  acquirement  of  technique  by  the  pupil  is  what  we  are 
aiming  at  in  the  teaching  of  stenography  and  typewriting, 
and  that  this  can  be  obtained  only  by  a  most  thorough  knowl- 
edge of  the  principles  and  practice  of  writing  clearly  and 
rapidly. 

The  work  is  begun  in  the  second  year,  when  four  periods  a 
week  are  devoted  to  shorthand.  Typewriting  may  be  begun 
the  same  year.     But,  generally  speaking,  schools  will  find  it 


Course  of  Study  of  Secondary  Commercial  School      65 

difficult  to  provide  enough  equipment,  and  so  the  typewriting 
work  is  begun  with  the  third  year,  and  three  periods  are  given 
in  addition  to  the  four  periods  in  stenography.  A  great  deal 
of  the  practical  facility  in  typewriting  the  student  will  have 
to  acquire  by  writing  after  school  hours,  the  hours  in  school  being 
devoted  to  formal  exercises  and  to  criticism.  On  the  aims  and 
methods  of  stenography  and  typewriting  see  the  special  chap- 
ter on  the  subject. 

The  question  will  arise  here  whether  German  and  Spanish 
stenography  should  be  taught  in  the  regular  course.  In  a 
general  way  we  may  answer  that  such  knowledge  is  rarely  of 
any  use,  —  and  the  occasions  where  a  person  might  make 
use  of  such  knowledge  are  very  few.  Consequently,  it  is  not 
advisable  to  include  such  special  instruction,  unless  there  is 
a  specific  demand  for  it. 

Practicum.  —  In  the  last  year  one  period  a  week  is  devoted 
to  a  conference  and  discussion  by  the  members  of  the  class 
of  results  of  their  own  observations  in  business.  Each  pupil 
should  be  required  an(J  given  the  opportunity  to  visit  great 
business  establishments,  to  observe  methods  and  processes, 
and  to  report  to  the  class. 

This  work  will  be  of  benefit  in  the  following  directions : 
It  will  reenforce,  by  practical  illustrations,  the  work  taught 
in  the  school ;  it  will  give  the  student  practice  in  oral  and 
written  composition ;  it  will  sharpen  the  power  of  observing 
and  the  critical  faculty  of  the  student,  and  it  will  give  an 
opportunity  of  free  exchange  of  thoughts  between  teacher  and 
pupils.  It  will  be  of  the  highest  importance  in  those  schools 
which  have  established  practical  cooperative  relations  with 
the  business  community. 

Conclusion.  —  We  will  remark,  finally,  that  the  foregoing 
course  of  study  represents  one  which,  in  the  minds  of  the 


66      Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

authors,  represents  a  standard  type.  There  are,  it  is 
true,  disturbing  influences  in  many  places,  which  compel 
deviations  from  the  type.  Such  influences  are :  the  impos- 
sibilities of  having  a  separate  commercial  high  school,  and 
therefore  the  necessity  of  combining  the  commercial  students 
with  the  other  students  of  the  school  in  certain  subjects ; 
the  fact  that  some  pupils  change  their  minds  about  continu- 
ing their  commercial  course,  and  desire  to  change  to  the 
academic  course,  and  the  consequent  necessity  of  making  such 
transition  possible ;  the  fact  that  many  pupils  drop  out  be- 
fore completing  school,  and  the  necessity  therefore  of  making 
the  first  two  years  of  the  course  more  or  less  complete  in  them- 
selves. Many  other  disturbing  circumstances  might  be 
thought  of.  Now  to  construct  a  course  of  study  in  which  all 
the  possible  disturbing  elements  should  be  taken  care  of  is 
an  impossibility.  To  construct  such  a  course,  having  in  mind 
some  of  these  elements,  would  not  be  presenting  a  standard 
course  of  study.  The  best  solution  to  our  minds  seemed  to 
be  to  arrange  a  course  as  it  ought  to  be  under  more  or  less  ideal 
circumstances,  and  to  allow  each  educator  to  modify  it  for 
himself  in  accordance  with  local  conditions. 

The  objection  to  deviation,  in  certain  subjects  like  English, 
from  the  standard  course  set  by  the  college  entrance  board, 
on  the  ground  that  the  latter  board  will  not  give  credit  for 
such  subject,  should  be  of  Httle  moment.  The  time  has  come 
when  the  college  entrance  board  must  recognize  that  its  re- 
quirements should  keep  abreast  with  the  demands  of  the 
time.  There  is  no  reason  why  some  commercial  subjects, 
which  are  of  as  great  disciplinary  value  as  most  academic 
subjects,  should  not  be  credited  for  college  entrance.  Provi- 
sion for  this  has  only  recently  been  made.  But  much  still 
remains  to  be  done.     What  reason  is  there  for  setting  a  uni- 


Course  of  Study  of  Secondary  Commercial  School      67 

form  course  in  language  for  all  schools  ?  Is  there  any  partic- 
ular ground  for  the  board's  refusal  to  recognize  that  there  are 
other  uses  of  English  besides  Hterary?  If  teachers  will  per- 
sist in  their  rational  demands  for  full  recognition,  their  re- 
quests will  be  granted. 

SUMMARY 

The  planning  of  a  curriculum  requires  a  person  who  has  the 
broad  vocational  outlook  as  well  as  a  deep  view  of  the  phi- 
losophy of  education.  Our  knowledge  of  the  nature  and  re- 
quirements of  business  life  determines  us  in  the  selection  of 
studies.  But  studies  not  directly  vocational  are  also  included 
because  they  are  broadening,  because  they  develop  the  intel- 
lectual grasp,  and  because  they  are  necessary  for  the  education 
of  the  whole  man. 

A  course  is  presented,  which  is  constructed  on  the  basis  of 
four  years'  work,  with  twenty-eight  periods  per  week.  There 
are  three  divisions  to  the  curriculum  :  (i)  the  course  in  com- 
merce ;  (2)  the  bookkeeping  course ;  (3)  the  stenographic 
course,  (i)  and  (2)  may  be  combined,  so  as  to  give  us  these 
parallel  elective  courses  :  (i)  the  commerce-bookkeeping  course, 
(2)  the  stenographic  course.  The  latter  will  include  some  work 
in  bookkeeping  and  the  science  of  commerce. 

The  courses  outlined  represent  a  standard  type.  Local 
conditions  may  compel  a  slight  de\'iation  from  the  type. 

EXERCISES 
GROUP   ONE 

1.  Can  an  ideal  commercial  curriculum  be  formed  by  modifying  a 
general  course  curriculum,  or  must  an  entirely  new  one  be  arranged? 
Give  reasons. 

2.  Divide  the  commercial  programme  into  three  groups  of  studies,  and 
give  three  examples  of  each  division. 


68      Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

3.  Why  should  the  bookkeeping  and  stenography  departments  of  a 
commercial  high  school  be  separated  ? 

4.  Show  how  the  treatment  of  algebra  in  a  commercial  school  dififers 
from  the  treatment  in  a  general  high  school. 

5.  Give  the  content  of  a  course  in  commercial  geography. 

6.  What  is  the  place  of  economics  in  the  commercial  high  school 
course  ? 

7.  Should  typewriting  be  studied  by  pupils  who  do  not  elect  ste- 
nography ?    Why  ? 

8.  If  a  pupil  can  remain  in  high  school  long  enough  to  take  only  one 
year  of  bookkeeping  or  stenography,  which  subject  would  you  advise 
him  to  choose  ?     Give  reasons. 

9.  Show  the  value  of  the  "practicum." 

GROUP   TWO 

1.  Prepare  a  three-year  course  of  study  for  a  commercial  high  school. 
Show  what  principles  have  guided  you  in  adapting  the  four-year  course 
for  this  purpose. 

2.  Criticise  the  course  of  study  of  any  commercial  high  school  with 
which  you  are  familiar,  pointing  out  its  strong  and  its  weak  points. 
Advocate  such  changes  as  are  both  practical  and  valuable,  with  reasons. 

3.  Assume  that  you  were  allowed  to  substitute  commercial  subjects  for 
twenty  per  cent  of  the  work  ofifered  in  any  general  high  school  with  which 
you  are  acquainted,  state  how  you  would  proceed,  and  present  the  result. 
Defend  your  choice. 

4.  State  how  you  would  conduct  a  practicum  so  as  to  aid  the  boys 
and  girls  of  your  school  and  also  the  business  community. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Farrington,  F.  E.,  Commercial  Education  in  Germany.     New  York, 

Macmillan  Co.,  1914. 
Herrick,  C.  a.,  Meaning  and  Practice  of  Commercial  Education.     New 

York,  Macmillan  Co.,  1904. 
HoLLiSTER,  H.  A.,  High  School  Administration.     Boston,  Heath  &  Co., 

1909. 
Johnson,  J.  F.,  Commercial  Education.     (In  Cyclopedia  of  Education.) 

New  York,  Macmillan  Co.,  191 1. 


Course  of  Study  of  Secondary  Commercial  School      6g 

Murphy,  C.  H.,  Curricula  for  High  Schools  of  Commerce  in  the  United 

States.     N.  E.  A.  Report,  191 1,  p.  852. 
Report  of  the  Committee  of  Nine  (N.  E.  A.  Com.  on  Commercial  Education). 

Bulletin  No.  23,  University  of  the  State  of  New  York. 
Thompson,  F.  V.,  Report  on  Commercial  Education  in  New  York  City. 

(In  Report  on  School  Inquiry.)     New  York,  Board  of  Estimate  and 

Apportionment,  1913. 


CHAPTER   III 

General  Principles  of  Method 
application  to  the  teaching  of  commercial  subjects 

The  general  principles  of  teaching  are  based  partly  upon  the 
nature  of  the  subject  to  be  taught,  but  principally  upon  the 
nature  of  the  mind  to  be  taught.  While  in  a  general  sense 
principles  of  teaching  are  practically  the  same,  the  appUcation 
of  the  principles  to  the  different  subjects  raises  certain  impor- 
tant questions  which  we  shall  consider  here.  The  teacher 
of  commercial  subjects  is  particularly  interested  to  know  how 
these  principles  help  him  in  the  solution  of  the  peculiar  prob- 
lems that  face  him  ;  and  as  the  general  writer  on  education  is 
unfamiliar  with  the  ground  travelled  by  the  teacher  of  our 
subjects,  the  commercial  teacher  generally  looks  in  vain  for 
practical  illustrations  of  the  general  principles  to  his  special 
field.  The  purpose  of  this  chapter,  then,  is  to  consider  some 
of  the  leading  principles  which  should  guide  the  teacher,  and 
to  illustrate  the  application  of  these  principles  to  the  teaching 
of  commterfial  subjects. 

I.  Teacher's  Knowledge  of  the  Subject.^ — Before  consider- 
ing the  subject  of  teaching,  it  is  necessary  to  look  at  the  pre- 
requisites for  all  good  teaching,  and  that  is,  a  knowledge  of 
the  subject  taught.  This  involves  a  certain  amount  of  general 
culture  and  special  training  in  the  subject  on  the  part  of  the 

^  For  a  detailed  discussion  of  this  topic  see  Chapter  XV. 
70 


General  Principles  of  Method  71 

teacher  who  is  to  undertake  the  work.  It  is  evident  that  the 
person  who  knows  no  more  about  the  subject  he  is  to  teach 
than  what  he  expects  his  pupil  to  learn,  is  very  inadequately 
prepared  for  his  task.  The  successful  teaching  of  bookkeep- 
ing, for  example,  involves  an  understanding  not  only  of  the 
clerical  or  routine  aspects  of  the  subject,  but  of  the  rational 
or  scientific  background  of  it,  the  science  of  accounting.  The 
same  reason  appHes  here  as  in  the  case  of  the  teacher  of  arith- 
metic, who  should  be  acquainted  with  algebra  (the  science 
which  gives  the  laws  to  arithmetic),  in  order  to  teach  his  sub- 
ject successfully.  Our  educational  authorities  recognize  this 
fact  by  providing  an  examination  for  candidates,  and  an  edu- 
cational prerequisite  which  covers  in  scope  a  great  deal  more 
than  the  curriculum  which  the  teachers  are  expected  to 
present  in  the  secondary  school.  But  not  only  must  such 
teacher  have  a  rational  and  organized  view  of  the  field  of  a 
specialty,  but  he  must  have  the  general  cultural  background 
which  will  enable  him  to  see  the  true  place  of  his  specialty 
in  the  general  scheme  of  knowledge,  and  enable  him  success- 
fully to  correlate  the  subject  he  is  teaching  with  the  other 
subjects  in  the  pupil's  curriculum. 

It  follows,  then,  that  no  teacher  can  be  successful  who  is 
not  a  person  of  culture.  It  is  true  that  a  great  many  of  our 
teachers  of  commercial  subjects  are  not  persons  of  culture, 
because  they  have  not  had  the  opportunities  for  a  good,  gen- 
eral education.  Many  of  them  have  stepped  from  an  unsuc- 
cessful business  career  and  have  taken  to  teaching  as  a  make- 
shift. If  those  persons  only  realized  that  the  means  of  self- 
culture  are  within  their  reach,  and  if  they  continued  their  read- 
ing and  study,  they  would  make  up  in  a  large  degree  for  their 
early  disadvantages.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  teacher  of  com- 
mercial subjects  is  required  to  teach  so  many  different  branches, 


72      Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

that  if  he  really  understands  the  subject  he  is  teaching,  he  is 
bound  to  be  a  person  of  general  culture.  A  real  knowledge  of 
commercial  geography  and  the  history  of  commerce  is  itself 
an  indication  of  culture.  Unfortunately,  many  of  the  teachers 
who  teach  these  subjects  have  only  a  superficial  knowledge  of 
the  subject  they  are  teaching ;  a  knowledge  of  what  is  in  the 
text-book  they  are  teaching. 

We  must  indicate  briefly  in  what  way  a  teacher  can  make 
up  deficiencies  in  his  general  culture,  and  in  what  way  he  can 
remain  progressive. 

First :  He  must  keep  abreast  of  the  times.  That  is,  he 
must  have  access  to,  and  take  advantage  of,  the  latest  pub- 
Hcations  in  the  subjects  which  he  is  teaching.  The  results  of 
that  progress  are  found  not  in  books  alone,  but  in  magazines 
and  journals.  Again,  since  a  good  deal  of  the  material  in 
commercial  geography  is  statistical  and  as  text-books  cannot 
possibly  be  up  to  date,  the  teacher  must  supplement  the 
statistics  in  the  text-book  with  those  he  gathers  from  various 
statistical  summaries.  He  must  therefore  keep  in  touch  with 
the  progress  of  the  world. 

Secondly:  Where  opportunities  exist  for  self-improvement, 
he  must  take  advantage  of  them  —  such  as  university  courses 
and  lectures.  Many  persons  find  it  difficult  to  study  by 
themselves.  In  many  cases,  the  lack  of  previous  training 
may  make  it  impossible  for  the  teacher  to  keep  pace  with  the 
latest  publications  on  the  subject  and  with  the  latest  periodicals 
in  the  field.  A  course  in  a  subject  connected  with  his  specialty 
will  therefore  not  only  make  up  for  the  teacher's  previous 
lack  of  training,  but  it  will  give  him  an  instrument  for  self- 
culture  which  he  can  use  after  he  leaves  the  course.  It  makes 
no  difference  whether  the  subject  he  is  studying  is  on  a  much 
more  advanced  plane  than  the  one  on  which  he  is  working  in 


General  Principles  of  Method  73 

the  secondary  school.  If  we  expect  to  have  teachers  who  will 
elevate  the  standard  of  commercial  teaching,  who  will  show 
the  teachers  of  academic  subjects  that  this  work  is  just  as 
cultural  as,  and  more  so,  perhaps,  than  the  other  subjects, 
we  must  have  teachers  broad  in  mind  and  knowledge,  and 
responsive  to  the  progress  of  the  times. 

All  this  discussion  might  imply  that  the  ideal  teacher  of 
commercial  subjects  would  be  a  university  trained  man,  who 
has  done  extensive  work  in  the  subject.  This  is  not  necessarily 
true.  In  the  first  place,  it  is  not  essential  to  have  a  college 
degree  in  order  to  be  a  person  of  culture.  In  the  second  place, 
mere  knowledge  of  the  subject  is  not  a  guarantee  of  good 
teaching.  There  are  special  problems  connected  with  teach- 
ing that  require  consideration  apart  from  the  study  of  the 
subject :  facts  connected  with  applied  psychology,  that  help 
us  solve  many  of  our  problems  in  teaching.  The  lack  of  this 
knowledge  will  often  lead  to  failure  in  teaching.  At  one  time, 
the  only  requisite  for  ability  to  do  bookkeeping  was  practical 
experience  as  a  bookkeeper.  We  now  realize  how  inadequate 
this  knowledge  is,  how  a  person  possessed  of  mere  office 
knowledge  lacks  the  perspective  and  the  culture  which  have 
been  pronounced  to  be  prerequisites  of  the  successful  teacher. 
On  the  other  hand,  we  realize  now  that  knowledge  alone  is 
not  sufficient  to  make  a  good^  teacher ;  that  an  understanding 
of  the  principles  of  teaching  and  abihty  to  apply  them  are  both 
just  as  important.  We  have  daily  illustrations  of  the  woful 
lack  of  ability  to  present  the  subject  on  the  part  of  persons 
who  have  a  broad  knowledge  of  the  subject,  but  who  fail  to 
realize  that  mere  presentation  of  the  subject  in  the  form  of  a 
lecture  is  not  teaching.  In  the  following  paragraphs  it  is 
proposed  to  outline  the  leading  principles  of  method  which 
the  teacher  must  bear  in  mind  in  his  work. 


74      Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

2.  Principles  of  Teaching.^  (i)  Principle  of  Self -activity. 
—  The  greatest  principle  in  all  teaching  is  the  one  which 
points  to  the  fact  that  the  most  successful  teacher  is  the  one 
who  accomplishes  the  maximum  of  result  with  the  minimum 
of  effort.  Teaching  consists  not  in  lecturing,  but  in  stimu- 
lating the  pupils  to  the  greatest  amount  of  effort  and  self- 
activity.  For  this  reason,  we  condemn  all  methods  which 
consist  merely  of  a  lecture  or  presentation  on  the  part  of  the 
teacher.  In  successful  teaching,  the  teacher  is  in  the  back- 
ground, and  merely  stimulates  the  pupil  to  self-effort  by  means 
of  questions  and  problems  for  solution.  In  view  of  the  nature 
of  bookkeeping  and  stenography  as  subjects  which  require 
"  doing,"  it  is  not  possible  for  teachers  to  confine  themselves 
to  lecturing  on  these  subjects.  But  even  in  accounting,  we 
find  examples  of  teachers  presenting  the  problem,  solving  the 
problem  for  the  students,  and  having  them  copy  the  solution. 

The  proper  method  should  be  by  means  of  questions 
which  lead  pupils  to  attack  the  phases  of  the  problem,  and 
to  master  the  various  difficulties  by  their  own  efforts.  In 
commercial  geography  or  in  history,  we  are  apt  to  find  teachers 
indulging  in  lecturing  instead  of  asking  questions  which 
stimulate  thought.  The  method  by  which  the  student  is 
given  certain  problems  for  solution,  by  which  he  is  led  to 
observe  for  himself  the  facts  of  the  world  about  him,  by  which 
he  is  brought  to  recognize  facts  for  himself  under  the  stimulus 
of  questions  by  the  teacher,  —  this  method  is  the  one  which 
leads  to  the  highest  expression  of  self-activity.  We  may  sum 
up  by  saying  that  we  learn  by  doing,  and  doing  means  both 
doing  and  thinking.  In  fact,  thinking  is  the  highest  form  of 
self-activity.  The  person  who  has  thought  out  a  problem  for 
himself,  remembers  the  solution  of  it  without  difficulty,  while 

^  In  this  connection  see  also  Chapter  I,  pp.  24  to  45. 


General  Principles  of  Method  75 

the  student  who  has  memorized  somebody  else's  solution  has 
put  in  a  lot  of  wasted  effort  in  the  task,  because  the  solution 
is  kept  in  his  mind  by  mechanical  effort,  and  the  knowledge  is 
only  temporary. 

(2)  Interest  and  Purpose.  —  Since  self-activity  of  the  pupils 
is  the  sign  of  successful  teaching,  we  must  indicate  some  of  the 
means  by  which  this  self-activity  is  promoted.  The  first 
step  in  every  lesson  should  be  an  attempt  to  make  the  student 
reaHze  the  purpose  of  what  he  is  doing,  so  as  to  interest  him 
in  the  subject.  This  interest  will  become  a  kind  of  compelling 
force  which  will  lead  him  cheerfully  to  exert  the  greatest 
effort  in  the  accomplishment  of  his  task.  The  principle  of 
motivation  has  its  appHcation  in  all  subjects  of  the  curric- 
ulum. It  is  because  the  bearing  of  the  thing  studied  is  not 
seen  by  the  pupil  that  he  frequently  approaches  his  task  bhndly 
and  grudgingly.  If  there  is  any  class  of  subjects  in  which  the 
pupil  ought  to  have  a  realization  of  what  he  is  doing  and  of 
the  way  in  which  the  topic  he  is  learning  is  going  to  advance 
his  general  efficiency,  it  is  in  commercial  subjects.  The  study 
of  these  subjects  has  a  vocational  purpose.  Every  topic, 
therefore,  ought  to  reveal  to  the  students  how  they  are  ad- 
vancing in  the  direction  of  better  vocational  adjustment. 
The  application  of  the  doctrine  of  purpose,  or  "  motivation," 
as  it  is  sometimes  called,  is  very  extensive.  In  bookkeeping, 
we  make  the  student  feel  that  a  particular  method  which  we 
are  adopting  satisfies  a  certain  need,  instead  of  throwing  a 
lot  of  rules  about  journalizing  at  the  pupil.  We  continually 
suggest  problems  and  difficulties  to  him  in  order  to  impel 
him  to  overcome  them ;  and  when  this  impulse  is  strongly 
felt,  we  show  him  how  to  direct  it.  Thus  he  approaches  the 
task  of  the  solution  of  the  problem  with  greater  zest  and  with 
a  greater  sense  of  its  importance.     In  accordance  with  this 


76      Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

principle,  we  should  never  introduce  a  new  book  or  a  new 
column  without  previously  having  the  student  realize  the  need 
of  such  a  device. 

In  stenography,  too,  the  usual  mistake  is  to  introduce  an 
abbreviation  or  contraction  without  an  explanation  of  why 
such  a  contraction  is  introduced.  The  good  teacher  ought 
to  put  the  pupil  in  the  attitude  of  the  inventor  of  the  short- 
hand system,  who,  reaUzing  the  frequency  of  a  certain  word 
or  letter  and  feeling  the  necessity  for  a  shorter  form,  invented 
a  shorthand  outline  for  it. 

In  commercial  geography,  facts  and  figures  given  to  the 
student  find  him  in  only  a  passive  mood  for  the  reception  of 
them.  It  is  only  when  he  has  seen  the  problem,  realized  the 
necessity  for  solving  it,  and  done  his  part  in  solving  it,  that  he 
has  come  to  a  sense  of  realization  of  the  purpose  of  the  task 
he  is  doing.  The  aim  of  the  lesson  should,  therefore,  be  stated 
at  the  beginning  of  the  lesson,  and  everything  considered 
should  be  shown  in  the  light  of  the  realization  of  the  aim. 
Not  that  it  is  necessary  for  the  teacher  to  stop  at  every  teach- 
ing period  to  show  the  pupils  the  purpose  of  the  topic  of  that 
particular  period.  Where  such  purpose  is  obvious  it  need  not 
be  stated,  but  at  various  stages  in  the  lesson  there  should  be  a 
kind  of  summary,  to  bring  the  student  to  a  realization  that  the 
purpose  which  he  had  in  mind  is  being  carried  out. 

(3)  The  development  of  the  lesson  should  proceed  from  the 
concrete  to  the  abstract,  and  from  the  known  to  the  unknown.  — 
This  principle  is  a  concrete  expression  of  the  doctrine  of 
apperception,  which  plays  a  very  prominent  part  in  educa- 
tional psychology,  and  which  teaches  us  that  a  person's  pre- 
vious knowledge  must  be  brought  to  bear  on  the  new  fact, 
in  order  to  assimilate  it.  It  is  also  the  principle  which  has 
given  such  prominence  to  the  method  of  induction  in  teach- 


General  Principles  of  Method  77 

ing,  especially  in  the  development  of  the  principles  of  a 
lesson. 

All  scientific  subjects  —  and  accounting  is  one  of  them — 
include  a  number  of  laws  and  principles.  These  represent 
the  organization  of  facts  in  a  systematic  way.  Moreover, 
this  systematization  of  facts  gives  rise  to  principles  which 
are  appHcable  in  the  interpretation  of  new  facts.  No  mis- 
take in  teaching  is  more  common  than  the  presentation  of 
an  abstract  rule  to  the  pupils,  the  meaning  of  which  is  not 
understood  ;  and  the  assignment  of  a  series  of  concrete  prob- 
lems in  which  the  pupil  is  required  to  apply  this  rule.  In  this 
way  the  student  of  bookkeeping  is  asked  to  note  a  certain 
rule  for  journalizing,  and  then  required  to  apply  the  rule  to  a 
particular  business  transaction.  This  procedure  reverses  the 
order  which  the  good  teacher  ought  to  follow.  The  only  way 
in  which  to  make  a  rule  intelligible  is  to  show  the  pupil  how  it 
is  derived.  We  must  begin  with  the  particular  facts  which 
have  to  be  organized.  These  facts  are  concrete,  but  their 
true  meaning  is  not  clear  until  they  have  been  related  to  other 
facts  in  the  pupil's  experience.  This  relation  takes  place 
by  means  of  the  general  rule.  The  method  by  which  we 
develop  the  rule  from  the  particular  facts  is  known  as  the 
"  Method  of  Induction,"  and  its  advantage  Hes  in  the  fact 
that  the  pupil,  as  he  learns  how  to  organize  facts,  also  learns 
how  to  apply  the  principle  of  organization  to  the  new  problems. 
This  he  is  able  to  do,  because  the  rule  is  not  an  abstract  formula 
thrown  at  him,  but  a  principle,  the  form  of  which  he  has  devel- 
oped by  his  own  effort. 

The  principle  of  proceeding  from  the  known  to  the  unknown 
and  from  the  concrete  to  the  abstract,  leads  to  the  use  of  all 
those  concrete  methods  Hke  pictures,  maps,  observation  trips, 
etc.,  that  are  so  necessary  as  an  aid  in  bridging  the  gap  between 


yS      Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

the  limited  experience  of  the  pupil  and  the  larger  experience 
which  we  want  him  to  obtain.  How  could  the  pupil  without 
these  aids  ever  come  to  reaUze  the  larger  world  in  which  he 
lives,  the  world  of  other  cUmes,  other  industries,  other  habits 
of  living,  other  types  of  thinking?  While  all  teachers  use 
concrete  material,  nevertheless  there  are  certain  mistakes 
made  in  the  use  of  such  concrete  material.  Some  of  these 
mistakes  are  as  follows :  (i)  The  use  of  this  concrete  material 
as  illustrative  of  the  abstract  rule,  and  making  the  abstract 
presentation  follow  rather  than  precede  the  illustration. 
(2)  The  presentation  of  the  concrete  material  as  a  mere  diver- 
sion, instead  of  the  utilization  of  it  as  a  step  in  arriving  at  the 
abstract.  This  mistake  is  made  when  the  teacher  presents 
pictures,  specimens,  and  experiments  which  interest  and  enter- 
tain the  pupils,  but  which  fail  of  any  educational  purpose, 
because  the  teacher  presents  this  concrete  material  without 
any  discussion  or  relation  of  it  to  the  general  principles  dis- 
cussed. (3)  The  rehance  upon  certain  concrete  aids  when 
the  student's  mind  has  outgrown  the  necessity  of  those  aids. 
This  is  not  a  very  frequent  error  made,  but  it  exists  never- 
theless. It  is  the  same  mistake  which  we  would  be  making 
if  we  drove  a  baby  in  a  carriage  after  he  had  learned  how  to 
walk.  The  use  of  concrete  aids  will  be  found  illustrated  in 
connection  with  the  discussion  of  Aids  in  Commercial  Geog- 
raphy. 

(4)  Drill  and  the  Principles  oj Habit  Formation. — The  knowl- 
edge of  a  rule  should  be  developed,  as  we  have  seen,  from  a 
study  of  particular  examples.  But  while  the  purpose  of  a 
general  principle  is  to  organize  the  facts  which  we  know,  it 
has  still  a  larger  purpose,  namely,  to  serve  as  a  means  by  which 
we  can  interpret  new  facts  which  are  similar  to  those  we 
know.     The  rule  itself  is  of  little  advantage  unless  it  gives 


General  Principles  of  Method  79 

us  the  power  to  solve  all  the  new  difficulties  that  may  come 
up.  But  as  the  understanding  of  a  rule  is  one  thing,  and  the 
acquisition  of  skill  in  the  application  of  the  rule  is  another, 
,  the  development  of  the  general  principle  must  be  followed 
by  practice  in  its  application  to  numerous  examples.  It  is  a 
common  experience  to  find  that  in  spite  of  our  greatest  efforts 
in  developing  a  subject  rationally,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  the 
students  have  followed  the  discussion  of  the  topics  in  a  most 
intelligent  manner,  that,  nevertheless,  the  results  of  the  teach- 
ing are  not  permanent ;  and  thus  we  find  that,  in  spite  of  our 
great  efforts,  we  seemingly  have  accomplished  little  in  the  way 
of  tangible  results.  The  cause  of  this  failure  is  due  to  lack 
of  practice  and  drill.  The  purpose  of  drill  is  to  give  the  stu- 
dent judgment  in  the  application  of  principle  to  new  facts, 
skill  in  seeing  that  a  certain  problem  is  to  be  solved  in  a  cer- 
tain way,  and  quickness  and  unerring  accuracy  in  its  solution. 
We  know  what  arithmetic  would  be  without  numerous  exam- 
ples for  the  students  to  practise  on.  We  realize  how  ineffective 
our  teaching  of  accounting  would  be  if  it  were  confined  to  a 
mere  discussion  of  principles,  without  the  opportunity  on  the 
part  of  the  student  to  solve  problems. 

But  there  are  certain  subjects  which  require  drilling  to  a 
greater  extent  than  other  subjects.  In  certain  studies  we 
want  to  develop  such  a  degree  of  skill  that  the  pupil  will  be 
able  to  solve  the  problems  immediately,  and  without  the 
slightest  reflection.  We  may  call  such  subjects  habit  sub- 
jects, and  the  principles  underlying  habit  formation  we  shall 
note  very  briefly  below.  There  are  other  subjects  in  which 
the  organization  of  facts  studied  is  perhaps  more  important 
than  the  application  of  those  principles  to  other  facts.  One 
of  these  subjects  is  commercial  geography.  In  this  subject 
our  aim  is  to  give  the  student  an  organized  view  of  the  factors 


8o      Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

that  condition  commercial  activity  in  the  world.  Of  course, 
the  purpose  of  the  study  is  to  give  the  pupil  the  abihty  to 
interpret  a  new  situation  as  it  arises,  in  the  light  of  that  prin- 
ciple, but  the  main  purpose  is  to  give  the  student  a  systema- 
tized view  of  the  world's  activities.  Drill,  therefore,  plays 
some  part  in  this  subject,  but  organization  —  and  by  this  we 
mean  organization  by  the  pupil  and  not  by  the  teacher  or  the 
text-book  —  plays  a  much  more   important  part. 

In  commercial  law,  on  the  other  hand,  there  is  very  little 
time  to  develop  the  principles  of  law.  The  aim  is  not  ex- 
actly the  organization  of  the  student's  legal  knowledge,  but 
the  ability  to  apply  a  general  principle  of  law  to  a  particular 
state  of  facts.  Hence,  in  commercial  law,  application  or 
drill  is  a  much  more  important  factor  than  in  commercial 
geography.  To  make  the  knowledge  of  principles  dynamic, 
so  to  speak,  we  must  give  the  students  numerous  cases  — 
problem  cases  —  to  solve.  The  value  of  a  knowledge  of 
general  principles  as  such  is  very  slight.  Even  in  our  exam- 
ination in  commercial  law  we  realize  that  fact,  when  we 
give  an  examination  paper  composed  entirely  of  problems. 
To  illustrate  further :  An  examination  in  arithmetic  does  not 
consist,  in  great  part,  of  questions  on  rules,  but  is  given  up 
almost  entirely  to  problems  to  be  solved.  Similarly,  an 
examination  in  commercial  law  does  not  require  the  student 
to  give  a  general  statement  of  rules  of  law  applicable  to  a 
large  topic,  but  requires  him  to  apply  his  knowledge  to 
particular  cases.  Hence,  intelligent  drill,  drill  in  which  the 
student  has  to  re-think  the  particular  rule  of  law,  in  order 
to  see  how  the  rule  applies  to  the  facts,  is  the  kind  of  drill 
that  is  most  efficient  in  this  subject. 

Again,  there  are  subjects  in  which  the  presentation  of  the 
rule  furnishes  no  difficulty  at  all,  subjects  in  which  the  knowl- 


General  Principles  of  Method  8i 

edge  of  the  rule  as  such  is  of  practically  no  importance. 
These  are  subjects  in  which  the  student  is  asked  to  accomplish 
a  certain  technical  task.  We  refer  to  the  habit  subjects.  In 
this  class,  we  include  stenography,  penmanship,  and  certain 
phases  of  arithmetic  and  bookkeeping.  These  are  subjects 
in  which  mechanical  accuracy  is  the  important  requirement, 
and  in  which  it  is  considered  a  deficiency  for  the  student  to 
have  to  stop  to  think  over  his  problems  instead  of  coming 
to  an  immediate  decision  about  them.  Stenography  is  a  sub- 
ject in  which  the  student  is  asked  to  apply  general  principles. 
The  principles  themselves  are  very  simple,  but  the  appli- 
cation of  them,  with  accuracy  and  speed,  is  a  matter  of  prac- 
tice. 

Hence,  the  great  problem  in  these  subjects  is,  how  to  de- 
velop mechanical  accuracy,  and  not  how  to  develop  a  knowl- 
edge of  the  principle.  The  development  of  speed  is  a  matter 
of  practice  or  drill.  The  understanding  of  the  principles 
in  stenography  is  so  simple  that  we  do  not,  as  a  general  rule, 
expect  the  teacher  to  develop  the  knowledge  of  it  inductively 
in  connection  with  this  subject.  But  as  teachers,  we  use  the 
greatest  amount  of  skill  to  develop  in  a  student  the  habit  of 
applying  the  principle  unerringly  and  rapidly.  The  power 
to  do  so  is  something  that  can  only  be  developed  by  constant 
practice.  But  practice  alone  is  not  sufficient  to  develop  the 
skill.  There  must  be  certain  other  considerations  kept  in 
view  to  develop  this  unerring  accuracy.  This  leads  us  to  a 
consideration  of  the  principles  of  habit  formation. 

Assuming  that  the  student  knows  the  rule,  there  remains 
the  problem  of  how  to  lead  him  to  apply  this  rule  and  how  to 
train  him  in  the  unerring  and  rapid  use  of  it.  First,  there 
must  be  the  incentive  which  will  lead  him  to  pursue  his  task 
with  interest.     Dull  and  deadening  drill  will  not  give  that 


82      Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

incentive  which  will  lead  to  practice  with  a  good  will.  It  is 
for  that  reason  that  good  teachers  in  stenography  introduce  dic- 
tation at  the  very  beginning  of  the  subject  in  order  to  make 
the  students  feel  that  they  are  actually  taking  dictation,  and 
in  order  thus  to  give  them  the  incentive  to  do  their  work  well. 
Of  course,  misdirected  practice  at  the  stage  of  the  development 
of  habit  will  lead  to  the  formation  of  wrong  habits,  which  it 
will  take  a  good  deal  of  time  to  eradicate.  The  development 
of  bad  habits  comes  at  the  formative  stage  of  the  subject. 
In  order  to  prevent  the  formation  of  bad  habits,  the  teacher 
must  be  watchful  to  the  highest  degree.  As  long  as  the  par- 
ticular work  to  be  done  still  requires  deliberation,  it  is  a  sign 
that  a  habit  has  not  yet  been  formed.  If  the  student  has  to 
think  how  he  is  going  to  debit  or  credit  a  certain  item,  he  has 
not  yet  developed  that  mechanical  proficiency  which  is  so 
essential. 

It  is  at  this  stage  in  the  process  of  the  development 
of  a  habit  that  the  teacher  must  be  watchful.  When  the 
student  is  able  to  do  his  thinking  quickly  and  without  the  neces- 
sity of  reflection,  then  the  teacher's  vigilance  may  relax,  be- 
cause the  habit  of  doing  the  work  correctly  has  already  de- 
veloped, and  there  is  Uttle  danger  of  the  student's  relapsing 
into  a  bad  habit.  Thus,  if  the  student  has  got  into  the  habit 
of  muscular  movement  in  writing,  it  is  no  longer  necessary 
to  watch  him  in  order  to  see  whether  he  is  actually  using  the 
muscular  movement  at  all  times,  because  it  is  more  natural 
for  him  now  to  write  in  the  correct  way,  —  the  habit  of  doing 
so  has  developed.  The  objection  may  be  made  that  it  is 
not  desirable  to  try  to  develop  such  mechanical  accuracy 
that  the  pupil  will  dispense  with  the  necessity  of  thinking. 
In  certain  subjects,  however,  such  a  proficiency  is  absolutely 
necessary.     Even  in  arithmetic,  we  want  the  pupil  to  develop 


General  Principles  of  Method  83 

such  mechanical  accuracy  in  his  fundamental  operations  that 
when  he  solves  the  more  complicated  problems,  he  can  give 
his  undivided  attention  to  the  higher  aspects  of  the  work  and 
leave  the  mechanical  aspects  of  the  work  to  his  subconscious 
self,  to  habit.  In  bookkeeping,  too,  we  require  the  bookkeeper 
to  be  unerring  and  rapid  in  his  ability  to  decide  whether  a 
certain  transaction  is  to  be  debited  or  credited.  This  effi- 
ciency will  leave  his  mind  free  to  devote  his  attention  to  the 
more  difficult  problems. 

(5)  Formal  Steps  of  the  Recitation.  —  In  connection  with 
the  special  method  of  conducting  a  recitation,  we  hear  con- 
siderably about  the  so-called  formal  steps  of  teaching.  There 
is  no  room  here  to  consider  them  at  length.  The  five  formal 
steps  are  preparation,  presentation,  comparison,  generalization, 
and  application.  They  are  an  excellent  guide  to  the  teacher 
in  the  arrangement  of  his  material,  and  in  calling  his  attention 
to  the  correct  principles  of  teaching  which  ought  to  be  fol- 
lowed. Thus,  preparation  calls  the  teacher's  attention  to 
the  fact  that  he  must  base  all  his  new  knowledge  upon  what 
the  pupil  already  knows,  that'  he  must  prepare  the  pupil's 
mind  to  receive  the  new  by  gathering  up  the  related  old 
knowledge.  Presentation,  comparison,  and  generalization 
call  the  teacher's  attention  to  the  fact  that  he  must  use  the 
inductive  method  in  developing  the  principle.  Application 
calls  the  teacher's  attention  to  the  necessity  of  practice  and 
drill. 

As  an  illustration  of  the  five  formal  steps,  we  may  take 
the  lesson  on  posting  from  the  Cash  Book.  The  preparation 
element  would  be  the  journalizing  of  the  Cash  Book  items 
and  the  review  of  the  method  of  posting  from  the  Journal. 
The  presentation  would  be  the  giving  of  the  items  as  they 
appear  in  the  Cash  Book,  and  the  statement  of  the  problem  : 


84      Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

How  to  post.  Comparison  would  involve  the  comparison 
of  the  items  in  the  Cash  Book  with  the  place  in  which  they 
would  appear  in  the  Journal  and  in  the  Ledger.  This  would 
lead  to  the  generahzation  that  the  posting  items  on  the 
debit  side  of  the  Cash  Book  arc  credit  items  in  the  Ledger, 
and  the  posting  items  on  the  credit  side  of  the  Cash  Book 
are  debit  items  in  the  Ledger.  After  this  generalization, 
the  student  is  ready  to  post  directly  from  the  Cash  Book  with- 
out the  necessity  of  first  transforming  the  Cash  Book  item  into 
a  Journal  entry.     This  is  the  application  or  drill  step. 

While  the  formal  steps  are  important,  they  must  not  be 
slavishly  followed.  We  must  not  try  to  fit  our  lesson  into  a 
Procrustean  bed.  As  long  as  the  formal  steps  help  in  the 
development  of  the  lesson,  they  are  to  be  used ;  but  if  we  make 
them  the  master  instead  of  the  servant,  we  paralyze  our  own 
efforts.  It  may  be  that  certain  lessons  require  the  presentation 
stage  before  the  preparation  stage;  it  may  be  that  certain 
other  lessons  require  a  Httle  appUcation  before  generalization. 
The  teachers  will  have  to  decide  the  particular  fitness  of  the 
steps  to  the  lesson  in  hand.  There  are  certain  lessons,  however, 
in  which  the  attempt  to  fit  the  development  of  the  subject 
into  the  formal  steps  is  a  failure.  This  is  true  of  those  sub- 
jects in  which  application  or  drill  is  the  most  prominent  part. 
The  purpose  of  the  formal  steps,  principally,  is  to  call  the 
attention  to  the  necessity  of  developing  the  rule  in  a  rational 
manner  so  that  it  can  be  intelHgently  applied.  Where  the 
ordinary  appHcation  of  the  rule  is  easy,  because  the  rule  is 
simple,  the  formal  steps  are  of  no  use.  This  is  true  of  the 
habit  subjects.  In  a  subject  like  Commercial  Law,  too,  the 
application  stage  is  the  most  important,  and  to  give  equal 
attention  to  the  other  four  steps  is  a  waste  of  time.  Never- 
theless, one  principle  must  not  be  lost  sight  of  even  here,  and 


General  Principles  of  Method  85 

that  is,  that  we  must  begin  with  the  concrete  fact,  and  lead 
the  pupil  to  see  the  necessity  of  the  rule. 

We  may  generalize  on  the  subject  of  the  formal  steps  by 
saying  that  where  the  subject  is  of  a  scientific  nature,  the 
formal  steps  are  of  great  help  ;  where  the  subject  is  one  involv- 
ing technique  or  habit,  the  formal  steps  are  of  little  value. 

Further  illustration  of  the  principles  of  teaching  as  applied 
to  the  different  subjects  will  be  treated  in  connection  with 
the  separate  subjects.  But  one  principle  which  has  been 
heralded  as  something  new,  especially  by  certain  teachers  of 
bookkeeping  and  stenography,  must  be  mentioned  in  closing 
this  chapter  :  individual  instruction. 

(6)  Individual  Instruction  and  its  Limitations.  —  The  class 
method  of  instruction,  —  by  which  we  mean  the  method 
whereby  the  teacher  instructs  all  the  pupils  in  his  class  as  a 
body,  —  while  it  has  great  advantages  in  the  way  of  economy 
and  efficiency,  also  has  serious  disadvantages.  First,  it 
emphasizes  the  subject  to  be  taught  rather  than  the  indi- 
vidual instructed ;  secondly,  it  leaves  out  of  consideration 
certain  individual  differences  in  abihty  of  students  in  the 
class.  Where  the  latter  have  been  absent,  or  have  entered 
school  late,  there  is  little  opportunity  for  them  to  adapt 
themselves  to  the  work  in  hand,  so  as  to  make  up  their  loss. 
The  consequence  is  a  serious  waste  of  time.  For  this  reason 
the  demand  has  arisen  in  our  school  for  some  form  of  individual 
instruction,  some  method  by  which  the  subject  to  be  taught 
may  be  adapted  to  the  needs  and  abilities  of  the  individual 
students.  While  our  system  of  grading  takes  into  considera- 
tion the  degree  of  attainment  of  the  members  of  the  class, 
it  loses  sight  of  the  fact  that  certain  individuals,  starting  at 
the  same  level,  may,  nevertheless,  progress  at  different  rates  ; 
and  that  after  a  few  months  we  may  find  some  students  be- 


86      Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

hind  others,  owing  to  absence,  illness,  slowness,  or  other 
causes. 

To  remedy  these  defects,  it  has  been  proposed  to  adopt  a 
method  of  instruction,  which,  for  want  of  a  better  term,  we 
may  call  "  the  individual  method  of  instruction."  This 
method  is  largely  in  use  in  business  schools,  especially  in  con- 
nection with  the  subjects  of  bookkeeping  and  stenography. 
Those  who  have  adopted  it  have  done  so  for  practical  reasons. 
They  have  been  compelled  to  admit  students  at  various  times 
during  the  year ;  so  that  the  class  method  of  instruction  has 
become,  if  not  impossible,  at  least  prohibitive,  because  it 
required  the  organization  of  a  new  class  for  every  small  group 
of  entering  pupils.  Paradoxically,  therefore,  we  might  say, 
they  have  adopted  a  method Vhich  increases,  to  a  still  larger 
extent,  the  number  of  classes,  by  making  each  entering  pupil 
a  class  in  himself. 

Unfortunately,  this  method  has  resulted,  not  in  the  organiza- 
tion of  a  method  of  individual  instruction,  but  in  the  estab- 
lishment of  a  system  in  which  the  teacher  docs  little  except 
check  up  the  work  of  the  pupils.  It  has  its  advantages  in 
stimulating  the  self-activity  of  the  pupils,  but  it  gives  no  oppor- 
tunity for  good  teaching,  as  such.  It  is  impossible  to  expect  the 
teacher  to  give  a  model  lesson  to  each  pupil.  Such  a  method 
would  involve  a  tremendous  waste  of  time  and  energy.  Conse- 
quently, the  other  extreme  is  adopted,  and  no  instruction,  in  the 
technical  sense,  is  given  at  all ;  the  instruction  given  being 
merely  a  form  of  study,  under  supervision,  with  occasional 
oral  recitation,  such  as  is  found  in  the  ungraded  country  school. 

Such  a  method  of  individual  instruction  is  a  sham  and 
delusion.  It  allows  no  opportunity  for  the  cooperation  of 
class  and  pupils  for  the  development  of  a  topic,  little  oppor- 
tunity for  emulation,  and  no  opportunity  for  one  pupil  to 


General  Principles  of  Method  87 

learn  by  the  mistakes  of  others.  It  is  almost  criminal,  there- 
fore, for  a  teacher  dehberately  to  abandon  the  class  method 
of  instruction  and  resort  to  the  method  of  making  each  indi- 
vidual a  class  by  himself. 

The  disadvantages  of  class-room  instruction,  however, 
must  be  met ;  and  the  question  arises  whether  there  is  any 
way  by  which  the  good  of  class-room  work  may  be  preserved 
and  the  evil  features  eliminated.  There  is  such  a  method  — 
the  so-called  ''  group  system  of  instruction."  It  is  possible 
for  a  teacher  to  organize  his  class  into  two  or  three  groups 
so  as  to  allow  for  the  different  rates  of  progress,  and  for  their 
loss  of  work  owing  to  absence  and  other  causes.  In  such  a 
system,  one  group  should  be  instructed  with  all  the  methods 
and  devices  of  the  skilful  teacher,  while  the  other  group  should 
be  studying  and  applying  the  lessons  taught.  During  the 
next  lesson,  the  groups  would  shift,  the  studying  group  being 
instructed  while  the  group  instructed  before  would  be  study- 
ing. If  the  objection  is  made  that  two  or  even  three  groups 
will  not  allow  for  a  sufficient  adaptation  to  individual  abilities 
of  students,  it  must  be  said,  on  the  other  hand,  that  some  in- 
centive should  be  furnished  the  students  to  accelerate  the 
rate  of  their  progress,  and  this  individual  instruction  does 
not  and  group  teaching  does  give.  If  pupils  can  progress 
at  any  rate  they  please,  and  if  no  standard  is  set  which  they 
must  attain  in  a  given  time,  they  will  exert  no  effort.  In 
the  group  method  the  slower  pupils  will  make  a  special  effort 
to  get  into  the  higher  group,  and  if  the  backward  pupils  are 
even  slower  than  the  slowest  group,  they  can  be  shifted  into 
the  highest  group  of  the  class  below,  or  given  individual  in- 
struction after  the  regular  hours.  The  group  system,  then, 
to  sum  up,  combines  all  the  advantages  of  class-room  instruc- 
tion with  the  advantages  of  individual  instruction. 


88      Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

SUMMARY 

The  purpose  of  this  chapter  is  to  show  how  the  general 
principles  of  teaching  have  their  particular  application  in  the 
teaching  of  commercial  subjects.  The  following  principles 
are  considered : 

(i)  Teachers'  knowledge  of  the  subject.  A  teacher  must 
have  a  broad  knowledge  of  the  scientific  and  cultural  back- 
ground of  the  subject  he  is  teaching.  He  must  constantly 
supplement  his  knowledge  by  reading  along  the  lines  of  the 
latest  advances  in  the  subject,  and  take  advantage  of  post- 
graduate or  extension  courses. 

(2)  Principle  of  self-activity.  Teaching  consists  not  in 
lecturing,  but  in  stimulating  students  to  effort  and  self-activ- 
ity. The  teacher  should  lead  pupils  to  master  problems  by 
their  own  effort. 

(3)  Interest  and  purpose.  The  realization  by  the  student 
of  the  purpose  of  what  he  is  doing  leads  to  the  elimination 
of  much  effort.  In  general,  no  new  topic  should  be  intro- 
duced by  the  teacher  without  making  the  student  feel  that  it 
satisfies  a  definitely  felt  need. 

(4)  In  general,  the  abstract  rule  should  be  developed  from 
the  study  of  concrete  examples,  and  the  apperception  of  the 
pupils  kept  in  mind. 

(5)  Drill  and  habit  formation.  Drill  is  of  very  great 
importance  in  making  the  results  of  the  lesson  permanent. 
It  is  of  especial  importance  in  technical  subjects  like  stenog- 
raphy and  typewriting. 

(6)  The  formal  steps  of  teaching,  as  presented  by  the  Her- 
bartian  school,  are  of  value  as  a  guide  to  the  technique  of 
lessons  in  which  the  aim  is  the  development  of  the  principle. 
They  are  of  Httle  use  in  subjects  in  which  the  drill  phase  pre- 


General  Principles  of  Method  89 

dominates,  like  typewriting,  or  in  which  the  aim  is  the  develop- 
ment of  appreciation  of  a  topic  as  a  whole,  like  EngHsh  or 
history. 

(7)  Individual  instruction  in  a  class  has  its  uses  in  connec- 
tion with  backward  pupils,  but  it  should  not  be  made  an  excuse 
for  no  class  teaching  at  all.  The  group  system  combines  all 
the  advantages  of  class-room  instruction  with  the  advantages 
of  individual  instruction. 

EXERCISES 

GROUP    ONE 

1.  Why  is  it  not  sufficient  to  study  general  principles  of  method  in 
order  to  insure  success  in  teaching  commercial  subjects  ? 

2.  Outline  the  knowledge  of  his  subject  which  you  would  expect 
of  the  commercial  teacher.     How  can  he  keep  his  knowledge  up  to  date  ? 

3.  Explain  the  importance  of  the  principle  of  self -activity,  illus- 
trating by  reference  to  both  a  technical  and  an  intellectual  subject  of  the 
commercial  curriculum. 

4.  Illustrate  what  is  meant  by  proceeding  from  the  concrete  to  the 
abstract  in  (a)  commercial  geography,  (6)  stenography,  (c)  economics, 
(d)  business  practice. 

5.  In  which  subjects  of  the  commercial  course  is  the  element  of  habit 
formation  most  prominent  ?     Give  the  steps  in  habit  formation. 

6.  What  is  meant  by  the  formal  steps  of  teaching?  Illustrate  by 
means  of  a  lesson  in  bookkeeping. 

7.  What  are  the  uses  and  abuses  of  individual  instruction  ? 

8.  Differentiate  between  induction  and  deduction.  Show  that  the 
teaching  process  involves  both  induction  and  deduction. 

GROUP   TWO 

1.  Prepare  a  bibliography  on  methods  of  teaching  the  various  subjects 
included  in  the  commercial  high  school.  In  a  brief  sentence,  state  the 
value  of  each  reference. 

2.  Arrange  a  summary  of  the  principles  of  pedagogy  which  should 


90      Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

prove  of  aid  to  the  young  teacher  in  the  preparation  of  his  daily  lessons 
and  in  the  conduct  of  his  recitations. 

3.  Write  out  a  criticism  of  a  lesson  in  bookkeeping  which  you  have 
observed,  basing  your  comments  upon  the  principles  presented  in  this 
chapter. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Bagley,  W.  C,  Educative  Process.     New  York,  Macmillan  Co.,  1905. 
Butler,  N.  M.,  Meaning  of  Education.     New  York,  Macmillan  Co., 

1909. 
Farrington,  F.  E,,  Commercial  Education  in  Germany.    New  York, 

Macmillan  Co.,  1914. 
HoRNE,   H.    H.,   Psychological   Principles   of  Education.     New   York, 

Macmillan  Co.,  1906. 
James,  W.,  Talks  to  Teachers  on  Psychology.     New  York,  Holt  &  Co., 

1912. 
Klapper,  p..  Principles  of  Educational  Practice.    New  York,  Appleton 

&  Co.,  1913. 
McMuRRY,  C.  A.  AfJD  F.   M.,   Method  of  the  Recitation.     New  York, 

Macmillan  Co.,  19 10. 
RowE,  S.  H.,  Hahit  Formation  and  the  Science  of  Teaching.     New  York, 

Longmans,  Green  &  Co.,  1910. 


PART   TWO 

SPECIAL   METHODS   IN   COMMERCIAL 
EDUCATION 

CHAPTER  IV 

Business  Arithmetic 

importance  and  difficulties 

It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  explain  the  importance  of  a 
knowledge  of  arithmetic  to  the  business  man.  It  does,  how- 
ever, require  some  explanation  why  we  should  include  it  in 
the  curriculum  of  the  secondary  school  after  an  eight  years' 
course  in  the  elementary  grades.  There  are  at  least  two 
narrowly  practical  reasons  for  this:  (i)  The  constant  com- 
plaint of  business  men  that  graduates  of  the  elementary  school 
are  deficient  both  in  performing  simple  operations,  as  well  as 
in  ability  to  apply  their  knowledge  to  the  solution  of  practi- 
cal problems  that  arise  in  the  office ;  (2)  this  deficiency  tends 
to  hamper  the  teacher  of  those  business  subjects  which  involve 
arithmetical  operations.  These  two  reasons  might,  of  course, 
prompt  us  to  seek  a  remedy  in  the  direction  of  improving  the 
elementary  school  course,  and  this  is  being  done  in  most  of 
our  large  cities.  On  the  other  hand,  the  teacher  in  the  sec- 
ondary school  must  face  the  situation  as  he  finds  it,  and  try 
to  supply  some  of  the  deficiencies.  This  involves  the  inclu- 
sion of  business  arithmetic  in  the  secondary  course. 

91 


92      Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

There  still  remain  several  specific  reasons  why  commercial 
arithmetic  could  legitimately  find  a  place  in  our  course,  even 
if  the  results  in  the  elementary  schools  were  proportionate 
to  the  effort  expended.  Business  arithmetic  is,  in  a  sense,  a 
vocational  subject.  In  its  treatment  in  the  commercial 
school,  correlation  with  business  practice,  bookkeeping  and 
accounting,  is  constantly  kept  in  mind.  The  point  of  view 
is,  therefore,  more  advanced  than  that  in  the  elementary 
schools.  Moreover,  the  teacher  profits,  or  ought  to  profit, 
by  the  student's  knowledge  of  algebra,  in  order  to  give  the 
principles  that  are  learned  a  more  rational,  a  more  scientific 
foundation. 

To  get  the  proper  perspective  of  the  subject  in  connection 
with  secondary  school  work,  and  to  solve  some  of  the  prob- 
lems of  method,  we  must  consider  some  of  the  deficiencies 
as  revealed  by  the  failures  of  elementary  school  graduates. 
These  are  lack  of  accuracy  in  the  fundamental  operations 
and  fractions,  and  inability  of  the  students  to  apply  their 
knowledge  to  practical  problems  that  require  some  reasoning. 
We  might  add  lack  of  speed  as  another  element  in  the  defi- 
ciency, but  this  point  is  not  so  vital  as  the  other  two.  Our 
commercial  teachers,  realizing  this  deficiency,  take  the  attitude 
that  the  way  to  supply  the  deficiency  is  to  give  more  work 
in  arithmetic.  If  eight  years  of  a  study  are  not  enough  to 
turn  out  efficient  students,  perhaps  one  or  two  extra  years 
in  the  high  school  will  repair  the  deficiency.  Instead  of 
examining  where  the  shoe  pinches,  —  whence  the  failure  in 
the  elementary  school  proceeds,  —  they  serenely  pursue  their 
own  way,  pretty  much  along  the  lines  of  the  teacher  in  the 
elementary  school.  This,  we  believe,  is  not  the  proper  way 
to  meet  the  situation.  We  must  examine  into  the  probable 
causes  of  failure  of  the  elementary  school  course  in  order  to 


Business  Arithmetic  q3 

gain  some  useful  lessons  in  how  to  do,  or  perhaps  not  to  do, 
the  work  in  the  high  school. 

PROBABLE  CAUSES  OF  FAILURE,  (i)  The  curriculum 
in  the  elementary  school  covers  too  much  ground.  — The  in- 
dustrial and  commercial  appHcations  of  arithmetic  form  a  large 
part  of  the  content  of  the  work.  Many  of  the  topics  are  entirely 
too  complex  for  the  student.  They  involve  a  certain  knowledge 
of  business  procedure  and  technique,  which  the  limited  amount 
of  time  at  the  disposal  of  the  elementary  school  teacher 
makes  it  impossible  to  give  to  the  student.  The  apparent 
inability  of  the  children  to  perform  business  problems  that 
require  reasoning  is  due  to  the  fact  that  they  really  have  not 
had  sufficient  opportunity  to  exercise  their  ability  on  problems 
that  are  within  the  level  of  their  knowledge  and  experience. 
There  is,  therefore,  a  second  cause  which  grows  out  of  this  first. 

(2)  Lack  of  practical  work  on  the  level  of  the  experience 
of  the  child.  —  If  we  want  to  teach  children  how  to  think, 
we  must  give  them  exercise  in  thinking.  We  may  find  them 
solving  problems  that  involve  a  high  degree  of  reasoning  abil- 
ity, and  yet  we  may  not  be  certain  that  they  really  have  the 
abihty  to  reason  in  arithmetic.  Many  problems  in  both  dis- 
count or  profit  and  loss,  for  example,  children  may  work 
mechanically  or  by  guesswork,  without  really  understanding 
the  reason  back  of  their  work.  Even  if  they  superficially 
understand  the  reason,  they  may  forget  it  after  a  while,  simply 
because  they  are  working  in  a  field  of  business  technique,  with 
which  they  are  not  sufficiently  acquainted.  Consequently, 
they  cannot  retain  what  they  have  learned.  It  is  a  well- 
known  fact  that  a  subject  which  is  well  thought  out  will  be 
remembered  without  any  effort,  and  even  if  it  is  forgotten, 
it  will  be  possible  to  recall  it  with  very  Uttle  review.  Rules 
connected  with  higher  phases  of  commercial  arithmetic,  such 


94      Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

as  foreign  exchange  or  investments,  may  be  taught  with 
comparatively  little  expenditure  of  eflort,  but  the  results 
will  be  superficial. 

When  we  say  that  there  is  a  lack  of  practical  problems  in 
the  elementary  school,  we  mean,  therefore,  that  the  problems 
are  not  such  as  will  stimulate  the  child's  thought,  as  will 
make  him  feel  a  sufficient  interest  in  his  work,  as  will  make 
him  see  that  he  is  meeting  or  satisfying  a  real  difficulty  which 
he  feels.  If  our  elementary  schools  devoted  less  attention 
to  commercial  arithmetic,  or  rather  chose  a  few  topics  in  it, 
and  included  a  few  more  problems  dealing  with  the  experi- 
ence of  children,  in  connection  with  their  games  and  with 
geography  and  science,  they  would  really  develop  the  ability 
of  the  children  to  attack  arithmetical  problems.^ 

(3)  Insufficient  drill.  —  The  fault  is  again  a  consequence 
of  attempting  to  cover  too  much  ground.  Our  schools  have 
done  a  considerable  amount  of  work  in  mental  arithmetic, 
so-called,  but  they  have  failed,  in  a  great  many  cases,  to  give 
students  accuracy  and  rapidity  in  the  fundamental  operations. 
This  deficiency  is  so  evident  to  the  commercial  school  that 
rapid  calculation  drills  play  a  very  important  part  in  the  ordi- 
nary course  in  commercial  arithmetic  in  the  secondary  school. 
Perhaps  the  lack  of  proficiency  in  this  respect  is  also  due  to 
the  fact  that  teachers  have  tried  to  combine  a  training  in 
rapid  calculation  with  the  study  of  a  process  in  arithmetic. 
For  example,  in  presenting  a  new  case  in  arithmetic,  they  have 
very  frequently  used  complex  figures  for  the  purpose  of  "  kill- 
ing two  birds  with  one  stone,"  —  namely,  to  teach  the  new 
case,  and  give  incidental  drill  at  the  same  time.  The  result 
was  that  the  attention  of  the  children  was  divided.  It  is  a 
well-known   axiom   among   the   most   advanced   teachers   of 

^  See  bibliographical  note  at  end  of  chapter. 


Business  Arithmetic  95 

arithmetic,  that  the  new  principle  should  be  presented  through 
the  medium  of  round  figures  or  simple  figures.  The  use  of 
unusual  numbers  and  large  fractions  distracts  the  attention 
of  the  student  from  the  process  involved.  It  therefore  gives 
training  neither  in  the  process  nor  does  it  give  drill  in  the 
fundamentals. 

Conclusion,  (i)  We  must  limit  the  ground  to  be  covered 
both  in  the  elementary  school  and  in  the  secondary  school. — 
It  is  very  true  that  applied  problems  are  of  the  highest  im- 
portance, but  if  an  intelligent  understanding  of  the  appHed 
problem  requires  an  elaborate  explanation  of  phases  of  busi- 
ness that  are  of  a  specialized  nature,  the  topic  does  not  belong 
to  the  course.  For  example,  a  certain  real  estate  problem 
involving  the  laying  out  of  ground  into  lots  may  involve 
very  useful  applications  of  a  principle,  but  its  consideration 
may  divert  the  attention  of  the  pupils,  and  the  comprehen- 
sion of  the  problem  may  involve  a  discussion  of  certain  practi- 
cal phases  that  the  limited  time  will  not  allow.  If  time  is 
taken  for  this  purpose,  it  necessarily  means  that  more  essen- 
tial topics  have  to  be  neglected.  The  student  who  has  been 
taught  how  to  attack  problems,  —  to  whom  difficulties  have 
been  presented  in  a  graded  form,  adapted  to  the  growth  of  his 
intelligence,  —  will  be  able  to  adjust  himself  to  the  particular 
situation,  when  he  actually  comes  to  it  in  his  business  career. 

It  may  be  interesting  in  this  connection  to  consider  Dr. 
F.  M.  McMurry's  rules  for  the  elimination  of  topics  in  arith- 
metic so  as  to  meet  the  difficulty  due  to  the  attempt  to  cover 
too  much  ground.  He  considers  that  the  following  ought  to 
be  eliminated  from  the  course : 

(c)  Whatever  does  not  answer  some  ethical,  aesthetic,  or  utilitarian 
need  of  the  child ; 


96      Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

(b)  Whatever  does  not  reasonably  fall  within  the  comprehension  of 
the  child ; 

(c)  Whatever  does  not  appeal  to  the  interest  of  the  child  unless  it 
conflicts  with  "c,"  above; 

(d)  Whatever  is  isolated,  irrelevant,  or  does  not  form  one  of  a  series 
of  related  facts. 

To  adapt  these  tests  for  elimination  to  the  secondary  com- 
mercial course,  we  must  bear  in  mind  the  vocational  character 
of  the  arithmetic  taught  in  the  secondary  school.  We  must 
remember  that  the  subject  is  not  taught  as  an  end  in  itself, 
but  rather  grows  out  of  the  need  of  meeting  the  various 
business  situations  as  they  arise,  in  so  far  as  they  involve 
the  measurement  of  value.  Teachers  have  therefore  met  the 
situation  in  arithmetic,  —  so  far  as  training  the  student  in 
the  ability  to  reason  is  concerned,  —  from  the  wrong  end. 
They  have  made  business  practice  incidental  to  arithmetic, 
instead  of  using  arithmetic  as  an  aid  in  the  understanding 
of  business  processes.  The  course  in  commercial  arithmetic 
has  been  abstract  and  unrelated  to  real  business  life,  because 
abstract  mathematical  phases  have  been  made  too  prominent. 
In  the  elementary  school  this  difficulty  is  to  a  large  extent 
insurmountable,  in  view  of  the  technical  knowledge  of  busi- 
ness which  advanced  commercial  arithmetic  presupposes. 
The  same  thing  might  apply  in  the  high  school,  if  current 
practice  were  to  continue  to  include  all  arithmetic  in  the 
first  year  of  the  course.  In  this  way,  elaborate  preparation 
is  made  for  advanced  business  practice  that  is  to  follow,  in- 
stead of  correlating  more  directly  the  arithmetic  to  be  taught 
with  bookkeeping,  accounting,  and  economics. 

While  a  certain  amount  of  arithmetic  ought  to  be  included 
in  the  first  year,  there  are  certain  portions  that  should  be  re- 
served for  the  time  when  students  are  familiar  with  algebra 


Business  Arithmetic  97 

and  when  they  have  a  greater  acquaintance  with  business 
practice.  This  is  in  accord  with  a  very  important  principle 
in  pedagogy,  namely,  that,  as  a  general  rule,  no  topic  should 
be  presented  until  a  need  is  felt  for  it.  Carried  to  an  extreme, 
this  doctrine  would  direct  us  to  learn  how  to  discount  a  note 
when  we  actually  have  to  do  so  in  our  work  in  bookkeeping. 
It  is  not  necessary  to  hold  this  doctrine  in  its  extreme  form. 
Nevertheless,  it  points  to  this  very  valuable  principle,  that 
when  a  certain  topic,  such  as  bank  discount,  is  studied  in  the 
first  year,  only  its  simplest  phases  should  be  considered.  A 
review  of  the  topic  in  connection  with  bookkeeping  will  not  be 
time  wasted,  because  the  solution  of  the  arithmetical  problem, 
even  when  it  is  a  little  more  advanced  than  the  one  attacked  the 
year  before,  will  be  taken  up  with  an  interest  that  will  grow 
out  of  the  realization  of  the  practical  value  of  the  subject. 

(2)  Perfection  in  skill.  —  There  is  a  second  phase  of 
the  subject  of  commercial  arithmetic  that,  as  we  noted, 
prompted  us  to  include  it  in  the  secondary  school  course, 
and  that  is  the  perfecting  of  the  student  in  arithmetical  skill 
to  manipulate  figures.  It  is  true  that  calculating  machines 
and  arithmetical  tables  have  eliminated  a  great  deal  of  the 
abstract  arithmetic  work,  but  calculating  machines  are  not 
of  such  universal  use  as  to  dispense  with  the  necessity  of  skill 
in  operations  on  the  part  of  the  student.  The  invention  of 
the  typewriter  has  not  dispensed  with  the  necessity  of  a  good 
handwriting,  and  neither  has  the  calculating  machine  dis- 
pensed with  the  need  of  rapid  and  accurate  figuring.  Arith- 
metical skill  is  developed  by  intelligent  drill.  The  principles 
of  conducting  drill  work  and  of  developing  good  calculators 
are  so  important,  that  some  mention  should  be  made  of  the 
subject  here.  Ability  to  add,  subtract,  multiply,  and  divide 
accurately  is  a  matter  of  practice  or  habit  formation.     The 


98       Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

teacher  who  wishes  to  solve  the  problem  must  face  certain 
practical  difficulties  :  (a)  How  to  carry  over  the  skill  which  is 
developed  in  abstract  work,  to  practical  problems,  {b)  How 
to  make  the  drill  interesting.  This  is  important,  not  only 
for  its  own  sake,  but  because  mechanical  drill  which  lacks  in- 
terest is  very  exhausting,  (c)  How  to  develop  speed  without 
sacrificing  accuracy,  {d)  How  to  give  short  cuts  which  the 
student  will  use  intelligently,  and  which  he  will  remember. 
These  j)roblcms  will  all  be  attacked  in  the  next  section. 

Development  of  Arithmetical  Skill.  —  Skill,  as  was  men- 
tioned before,  is  connected  with  the  mechanical  phase  of  the 
subject.  In  this  section  of  our  treatment  we  shall  consider 
means  by  which  the  secondary  school  can  supply  the  defi- 
ciency of  the  elementary  school  in  this  respect.  While  we 
have  mentioned  this  deficiency  as  second  to  that  of  inabihty 
of  the  student  to  apply  principles,  we  are  taking  it  up  first. 
There  are  two  divergent  views  with  regard  to  the  place  of  ab- 
stract drill  work  in  arithmetic.  One  is  the  older  view  which 
insists  that  technical  accuracy  should  be  developed  in  con- 
nection with  abstract  work,  and  that  only  when  this  accuracy 
exists  is  it  wise  to  solve  applied  problems.  The  more  modern 
view  is  that  drill  work  should  never  be  apart  from  more  prac- 
tical use.  The  advocates  of  this  view  say  that  abstract  work 
arouses  no  interest  in  the  mind  of  the  pupil,  it  is  unrelated 
to  his  other  work,  and  satisfies  no  need.  According  to  this 
view,  then,  abstract  drill  work  should  never  be  conducted 
apart  from  some  practical  or  useful  problem. 

There  is  some  truth  in  both  of  these  views.  It  is  un- 
doubtedly true  that  mere  abstract  drill  work  is  uninteresting 
and  fatiguing,  but  it  is  also  true  that  to  rely  merely  upon  the 
incidental  drill  that  is  obtained  from  the  solution  of  practical 
problems  is  to  supply  only  inadequate  exercise  to  the  student. 


Business  Arithmetic  99 

In  the  first  place,  a  problem  in  which  the  attention  is  divided 
between  work  in  reasoning  and  work  in  numerical  drill  fails 
completely  to  train  either  the  ability  to  reason  or  the  ability 
to  manipulate  figures.  Some  mechanical  drill  work  should 
undoubtedly  be  conducted,  so  that  when  the  students  tackle 
a  problem  requiring  analysis,  the  manipulation  of  the  number 
work  is  automatic  and  the  mind  is  left  free  to  analyze,  without 
being  distracted  by  complex  figures. 

There  is,  therefore,  a  middle  view  between  the  two  extremes, 
which  accepts  abstract  drill  work  as  a  necessity,  but  tries  to 
make  it  as  interesting,  stimulating,  and  as  useful  as  possible. 
We  shall  now  answer  some  of  the  problems  connected  with 
drill,  which  were  propounded  in  the  precedmg  section. 

(a)  How  to  carry  over  the  Skill  obtained  from  Drill  Work 
to  Practical  Problems.  —  The  contention  of  those  who  are 
opposed,  in  general,  to  mere  formal  work,  is  that  the  facility 
gained  from  formal  work  is  not  carried  over  to  the  handUng 
of  practical  problems.  This  is  scarcely  true,  except  where 
other  elements  apart  from  the  formal  phase  are  involved 
in  the  problem.  Thus,  if  a  person  has  learned  how  to  add 
a  column  of  figures  accurately  and  quickly,  he  will  carry  over 
this  ability  to  an  applied  problem.  Of  course,  if  he  does  not 
know  that  the  problem  proposed  to  him  is  one  which  involves 
addition  of  a  column  of  figures,  that  is,  where  the  figures 
involve  an  arrangement  of  two  columns,  such  as  debit  and 
credit,  his  skill  in  addition  will  be  of  no  avail,  because  he 
will  not  have  the  opportunity  to  exercise  it.  This  precaution, 
however,  we  must  take  as  a  note  of  warning  from  those  op- 
posed to  formal  drill.  Our  abstract  work  must  be  of  such  a 
nature  as  is  commonly  met  with  in  real  business  Ufe.  Thus, 
addition  drill  is  frequently  limited  to  the  addition  of  a  column 
of  figures  in  which  each  line  has  the  same  number  of  digits.     In 


loo     Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

bookkeeping  we  invariably  have  occasion  to  add  amounts 
which  vary  in  the  number  of  their  figures.  This  kind  of  work 
should,  therefore,  have  its  place  in  the  drill  work.  Practice 
in  horizontal  addition  should  also  be  included,  because  there 
are  so  many  practical  uses  of  this  kind  of  addition.  Again 
it  may  be  that  occasionally  a  student  is  required  to  add  frac- 
tions with  very  large  denominators.  Practically,  however, 
skill  in  manipulating  common  fractions  with  large  denomina- 
tors is  of  very  Httle  value,  and  the  time  spent  in  drill  work 
of  this  sort  is  wasted.  When  the  opportunity  arises  to  add 
two  of  these  unusual  fractions,  the  practical  calculator  reduces 
them  to  decimal  fractions  first,  and  then  accomplishes  his 
addition  with  ease. 

{h)  How  to  make  the  Drill  Work  Interesting.  —  As  we  have 
remarked  before,  long-continued  drill  is  exhausting  and  unin- 
teresting. But  for  a  short  time,  the  student  finds  abstract 
work  interesting  enough  for  its  own  sake,  regardless  of  the 
ultimate  purpose  to  which,  in  his  mind,  it  may  or  may  not 
lead.  The  problem  before  the  teacher  is  how  to  sustain  this 
interest  long  enough,  to  postpone  the  feefing  of  weariness 
that  will  arise  if  the  drill  is  too  long  continued.  In  written 
work,  such  incentives  as  the  setting  of  a  time  limit,  the  arous- 
ing of  emulation  by  the  organization  of  rapid  calculation  clubs 
or  classes,  may  be  of  some  effect.  The  introduction  of  some 
purposeful  end  may  also  help  in  this  regard.  If  the  student, 
for  example,  feels  that  his  column  of  figures  represents  a  total 
which  stands  for  some  definite  fact,  Hke  the  total  volume  of 
foreign  commerce  of  the  United  States,  his  work  wiU  be  of  some 
interest  to  him,  beyond  the  mere  calculation  phase,  because 
he  will  be  interested  in  the  result  from  another  point  of  view. 

But  after  all  that  is  said,  we  must  avoid  abstract  drill 
that  is  sustained   too  long.     Perhaps  the  wisest  plan  is  to 


Business  Arithmetic  loi 

have  both  short  oral  and  written  drill  work  in  connection  with 
each  lesson.  As  for  devices  which  will  add  to  the  interest 
of  oral  or  mental  arithmetic,  those  devices  which  have  proved 
interesting  in  the  elementary  school  may  be  adopted  in  the 
secondary  school  as  well.  The  arrangement  of  the  figures,  in- 
tegers as  well  as  of  fractions,  upon  the  blackboard,  in  the  form 
of  a  dial  plate  of  a  clock,  or  on  the  rungs  of  a  step-ladder,  or 
on  the  ties  of  a  railroad  track,  tend  both  to  add  interest  in 
the  work  and  to  save  time.  The  saving  of  time  consists  in 
the  fact  that  the  figures  do  not  have  to  be  read,  but  merely 
have  to  be  pointed  out  on  the  board,  and  the  answer  follows. 

(c)  How  to  obtain  Speed  without  sacrificing  Accuracy.  — 
All  business  men  realize  that  accuracy,  above  all,  is  essential  in 
arithmetical  work.  One  mistake  in  the  addition  of  a  column  of 
figures  may  not  be  very  material  if  the  error  is  in  the  units' 
place,  but  if  the  mistake  is  in  the  thousands'  place,  it  is  very 
serious.  Teachers  should  reject  any  answers  in  abstract  work 
which  are  not  absolutely  accurate.  But  how  about  speed? 
This  is  undoubtedly  desirable,  and  after  reasonable  accuracy 
has  been  cultivated,  efforts  may  be  made  to  increase  the  speed. 
The  attempt  to  force  speed  too  early  leads  to  the  development 
of  slipshod  work.  One  of  the  ways  in  which  speed  is  very 
often  checked  is  by  the  habit  into  which  the  pupil  has  got, 
to  read  or  whisper  the  separate  numbers  in  his  examples. 
He  should  be  taught  to  add  two  figures  not  by  pronouncing 
them  separately  and  then  stating  their  sum,  but  by  giving 
the  sum  of  the  two  immediately  after  glancing  at  them. 

(d)  How  to  give  Short  Cuts  which  the  Student  will  use  intelli- 
gently and  which  he  will  Remember.  —  The  first  commercial 
education  given  in  this  country  was  by  itinerant  teachers, 
who  stopped  at  various  places  from  time  to  time,  and  offered 
instruction  in  penmanship  and  in  short  cuts  in  arithmetic. 


102    Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

It  is  reported  of  these  pioneers,  that  they  were  wont  to  startle 
their  audience  by  apparently  phenomenal  speed  in  addition, 
multiplication,  and  division.  They  would  thereupon  proceed 
to  take  enrolments  for  a  course  which  would  give  the  faciUty 
the  audience  had  just  marvelled  at.  Needless  to  say,  these 
tricks  —  for  such  they  were  —  were  soon  forgotten. 

One  who  would  seek  a  superficial  reason  for  this  forgetting, 
would  say  that  there  was  not  enough  opportunity  to  review 
the  short  cuts.  A  thing  which  we  have  very  little  use  for  we 
soon  forget,  and  when  the  occasion  arises  when  we  need  this 
particular  bit  of  forgotten  knowledge,  it  is  not  available. 
Therefore,  one  might  say,  review  subjects  constantly,  even 
though  you  have  no  immediate  use  for  them,  because  a  later 
occasion  might  arise  when  they  might  come  in  very  handy. 

We  believe  that  this  remedy  is  very  inadequate.  The 
reason  why  short  cuts  are  forgotten  is  because  there  is  no 
rational  foundation  for  them.  They  are  remembered  as  a 
mere  device.  The  advantage  of  understanding  the  mathe- 
matical principle  upon  which  a  short  cut  is  based,  is  that  it 
helps  us  to  reproduce  the  device  whenever  we  require  it.  We 
need  not  therefore  be  afraid  of  forgetting  the  short  cut  just 
as  long  as  we  remember  the  principle  back  of  it ;  and  the 
latter  is  not  very  apt  to  be  forgotten  so  soon,  because  it  has 
been  apprehended  by  the  reason  and  not  by  the  mechanical 
memory.  What  is  this  rational  foundation  back  of  the  short 
cut?     It  is  the  principles  of  algebra. 

There  is  a  general  idea  which  rarely  takes  definite  shape 
in  the  minds  of  most  persons,  that  somehow  or  other  a  study 
of  algebra  enables  us  to  understand  our  arithmetic  very  much 
better.  But  many  a  student  is  disappointed  when  he  finds 
that  the  connection  is  not  direct  enough,  and  that  he  is  unable 
to  apply  his  newly  derived  knowledge  of  algebra  to  his  arith- 


Business  Arithmetic  103 

metical  problems.  Hence  he  very  often  wrongly  infers  that 
the  study  has  been  so  much  waste  of  time.  His  impression,  it 
is  needless  to  say,  is  due  to  poor  teaching  of  the  subject  and 
the  failure  of  the  text-book  constantly  to  make  the  connection 
between  algebra  and  arithmetic  clear.  The  old-time  algebra 
(and  some  contemporary  text-books  are  no  exception)  pre- 
sents a  number  of  unpractical  examples,  and  rarely  builds  a 
bridge  between  the  algebraic  process  and  the  related  arith- 
metical process  which  is  really  based  upon  it. 

We  have  recommended  the  introduction  of  algebra  in  the 
course  during  the  first  year.  We  might  go  so  far  as  to  make 
algebra  and  arithmetic  a  part  of  the  same  course,  were  it  not 
for  the  fact  that  arithmetic  includes  so  many  phases  of  busi- 
ness practice,  that  the  commercial  teacher  ought,  properly, 
to  handle  it,  rather  than  the  teacher  of  mathematics.  But 
the  teacher  of  algebra  should  constantly  give  application  of 
principles  to  the  solution  of  arithmetical  problems,  regardless 
of  the  fact  that  pupils  are  studying  arithmetic  in  another 
class ;  and  the  teacher  of  arithmetic  should  not  hesitate  to 
use  algebra  as  an  aid  in  his  work.  It  is  one  of  the  few  bad 
effects  of  speciaUzation  in  teaching  that  the  speciaUst  in  one 
subject  considers  work  belonging  to  another  subject  outside 
of  his  province.  Whatever  may  be  said  about  this  attitude, 
there  should  be  a  distinct  effort  toward  cooperation  and  cor- 
relation, where  two  branches  are  so  closely  related.^ 

Let  us  see  how  algebra  aids  the  student  in  establishing  a 
rational  foundation  for  his  short  cuts.  We  have  room  only 
for  a  few  examples.  In  order  to  multiply  52  by  48  we  use 
this  short  cut :  Take  the  square  of  50  and  subtract  from  it 
the  square  of  2  (which  is  the  number  by  which  52   and  48 

'  Compare  what  is  said  on  the  subject  of  correlation  between  the  depart- 
ments of  stenography  and  English  on  page  387. 


I04    Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

respectively  differ  from  50),  or  subtract  4  from  2500,  and  the 
result  is  2496.  This  short  cut  is  based  upon  the  formula 
{a  -[-  b)  {a  —  b)  =  a-  —  6^.  The  teacher  of  algebra  should 
apply  this  formula  to  a  great  many  arithmetical  examples ; 
and,  similarly,  we  expect  the  teacher  of  arithmetic,  when  he 
comes  to  the  topic  of  short  cuts  in  multiplication,  to  famil- 
iarize himself  with,  and  to  refer  to,  the  algebraic  formula. 
Again,  if  we  have  to  multiply  a  series  of  numbers  by  the  same 
number,  and  add  the  result,  algebra  teaches  us  that  the  short- 
est way  is  to  find  the  sum  of  the  different  numbers  in  the 
scries,  and  multiply  it  by  the  common  number.  The  formula 
here  is  ab  +  ac  +  ad  =  a  {b  -\-  c  -\-  d),  therefore,  25  x  34  + 
25  X  45  +  25  X  18  =  25(34  +  45  +  18)  =  25  X  97  =  2425. 

More  will  be  said  below  on  the  subject  of  the  importance 
of  the  aid  of  algebra  in  the  solution  of  difficult  arithmetical 
problems. 

Artificial  Aids  to  Calculation.  —  The  ingenuity  of  man 
has  invented  many  devices  for  making  the  task  of  calculation 
easy  and  unerring.  Arithmetical  tables,  slide  rules,  and  cal- 
culating machines  have  been  devised,  and  they  have  come 
into  very  extensive  use  in  business.  The  teaching  of  the  use 
of  calculating  machines  is  probably  the  function  of  the  busi- 
ness practice  course,  but  the  use  of  tables,  such  as  multipli- 
cation tables,  simple  and  compound  interest  tables,  wage 
tables,  etc.,  should  be  taught  by  the  teacher  of  commercial 
arithmetic.  And  some  account  of  the  underlying  principle 
on  which  the  table  was  constructed  should  be  given  to  the 
student,  so  that  he  will  be  able  to  use  it  intelligently,  instead 
of  automatically.  The  teaching  of  the  use  of  tables  probably 
belongs  to  the  advanced  course  in  business  arithmetic,  because 
it  presupposes  quite  some  knowledge  of  algebra.  The  slide 
rule,  for  example,  a  device  for  making  multiplication  and 


Business  Arithmetic  105 

division  easy,  is  based  upon  the  principle  of  logarithms ;  the 
intelligent  understanding  of  a  compound  interest  table  also 
involves  a  knowledge  of  algebra.  Of  course  all  these  tables 
can  be  taught  mechanically  without  algebra. 

Special  Drill  Class.  —  Those  who  still  insist  that  a  con- 
siderable amount  of  time  in  the  course  should  be  devoted 
to  mechanical  drill  work,  because  a  proportion  of  the  stu- 
dents show  a  deficiency  in  that  respect,  fail  to  take  a  correct 
point  of  view  regarding  the  remedy.  If  the  rational  drill 
work  recommended  still  fails  to  reach  a  number  of  the  stu- 
dents, the  remedy  is  not  to  inflict  more  mechanical  drill 
upon  the  class  as  a  whole,  but  to  organize  the  deficient  pupils 
in  special  supplementary  classes.  It  is  wrong  to  inflict  a 
lot  of  mechanical  work  upon  an  entire  class,  because  a  few 
show  a  deficiency  in  the  manipulation  of  figures.  This  spe- 
cial drill  class  would  be  outside  of,  and  supplementary  to,  the 
regular  class  work,  and  not  a  part  of  the  regular  curriculum. 
A  similar  principle  should  prevail  in  penmanship.  Even  if 
as  many  as  one-half  of  the  pupils  show  marked  defects  in 
penmanship,  it  is  no  reason  for  putting  in  more  work  in  pen- 
manship as  a  regular  part  of  the  curriculum.  The  deficient 
pupils  should  do  supplementary  work  of  a  nature  analogous 
to  that  of  the  deficient  pupils  in  arithmetic. 

Applications  of  Algebra  to  Arithmetic.  —  There  is  no  more 
difficult  subject  in  arithmetic  for  the  teacher  than  the  teach- 
ing of  so-called  "  reading  problems."  Many  practical  devices 
have  been  used  by  the  teacher,  some  of  which  have  been  very 
effective.  The  method  of  requiring  an  approximate  answer, 
or  at  least  the  denomination  in  which  the  answer  will  be,  is 
very  useful  because  it  avoids  some  of  the  ridiculous  errors 
which  pupils  make.  Another  device  that  is  very  commonly 
used  is  to  require  each  pupil  to  analyze  the  problem  by  asking 


io6    Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

himself  what  is  given  and  what  is  to  be  found.  It  would  be 
better  to  reverse  the  order  in  which  these  questions  are 
asked,  by  requiring  him  to  tell  what  is  to  be  found  first,  and 
then  to  put  the  question,  What  is  given  which  will  help  us 
fmdit? 

Another  device  which  we  have  not  seen  suggested  in  any 
text  is  to  require  pupils  to  construct  their  own  problems  and 
to  solve  them.  This  will  be  of  great  advantage  in  bringing 
business  practice  and  arithmetic  in  closer  relation,  because 
the  problems  the  pupils  will  construct  will  have  to  stand  the 
test  of  probabihty.  If  they  present  grotesque  figures  or 
untrue  business  situations,  their  problems  will  have  to  be 
rejected ;  and  criticism  along  these  Hnes  of  some  of  the 
problems  brought  in  by  pupils  will  be  of  considerable  value. 
In  this  way,  we  believe  the  pupil  will  have  a  better  realization 
of  the  meaning  of  the  problem  —  because  he  will  have  had  a 
part  in  the  making  of  it  —  than  if  a  problem  is  presented  to 
him  ready-made. 

But  the  most  important  aid  to  the  solution  of  applied 
problems  is  algebraic  analysis.  By  the  use  of  algebra,  some 
of  the  most  difhcult  arithmetical  problems  are  made  ridic- 
ulously easy.  It  is  almost  a  crime  to  compel  students  to  go 
through  cumbersome  arithmetical  analysis  in  order  to  solve 
their  problems,  when  algebra  points  an  easy  way.  The  fol- 
lowing are  some  of  the  applications : 

(i)  X.  —  The  use  of  x  as  the  number  to  be  found  enables 
us  to  convert  all  indirect  cases  of  percentage  to  direct  cases. 
Thus,  to  find  the  cost,  having  given  the  gain  or  loss :  If  we 
call  X  the  cost,  we  can  apply  the  basic  rule  used  in  the  direct 
case  of  profit  and  loss ;  namely,  multiplying  the  cost  (x)  by 
the  rate  of  gain  or  loss  to  find  the  actual  gain  or  loss.  This 
points  to  the  most  valuable  application  of  algebra  to  arithme- 


Business  Arithmetic  107 

tic,  —  the  ability  which  it  gives  to  consolidate  all  the  cases 
of  percentage  into  a  single  case,  with  the  consequent  saving 
of  the  memory.  This  point  we  shall  consider  in  connection 
with  the  use  of  formulas. 

But  before  doing  so,  we  wish  to  show  difficulties  the  teacher 
of  arithmetic  has  to  solve  in  indirect  cases  of  percentage  by 
means  of  arithmetical  analysis,  and  the  confusion  which  such 
an  attempt  is  apt  to  cause  in  the  pupils'  minds.  Thus,  we 
call  the  cost  100%,  which  it  actually  is  not,  when  we  might 
just  as  well  call  it  x.  We  add  the  rate  of  gain,  say  25%,  and 
call  the  selUng  price  125%.  But  our  difficulty  only  begins 
now,  when  we  say  that  125%  equals  $250.00,  and  1%  equals 
-^  of  $250.00.  The  pupil  is  Uable  to  think  that  it  ought  to 
equal  i  %  of  $250.00.  The  method  of  arithmetical  analysis 
thus  causes  confusion  in  his  mind.  Algebraically,  he  will 
solve  the  problem  by  putting  down  an  equation  x  -  ^x  = 
$250.00.  As  he  has  learned  how  to  clear  of  fractions,  he  will 
solve  the  problem  with  the  utmost  ease. 

(2)  Formulas.  —  The  use  of  formulas  is  the  greatest  labor- 
saving  device  in  calculation.  Formulas  are  extensively  used 
not  only  in  pure  mathematics,  but  in  technical  work,  and 
even  in  accounting.  After  all,  the  formula  is  only  an  abbre- 
viated statement  of  a  rule.  It  has  this  advantage,  moreover, 
that  this  abbreviated  statement  can  be  manipulated  by 
means  of  algebraic  processes.  Thus,  we  may  take  the  for- 
mula for  simple  interest,  and  manipulate  it  so  as  to  derive 
all  the  indirect  cases.  The  advantage  Hes  in  the  fact  that 
only  one  rule  will  have  to  be  remembered,  instead  of  four 
or  five.  To  illustrate:  The  rule  is:  Interest  equals  prin- 
cipal times  the  rate  times  the  time.  Stating  this  rule  as  a 
formula  by  using  letters  alone,  we  have  the  formula,  I  =  P  X 
RxT,   or   /  =  PRT.     This   formula   can   be   used   for    all 


io8    Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

cases  of  interest.  If  we  wish  to  find  the  principal,  having 
given  the  other  elements,  we  substitute  in  the  formula  for  /, 
R,  and  T,  and  solve  for  P. 

The  skilful  handling  of  formulas  requires  the  following 
practice  :  —  First,  training  in  numerical  substitution  in  alge- 
])raic  expressions,  —  training  which  the  algebra  teachers 
should  devote  special  attention  to ;  and  secondly,  practice 
in  using  other  letters  for  the  unknown  number  besides  x, 
such  as  a,  m,  n,  or  p. 

APPLIED   BUSINESS   PROBLEMS 

We  have  indicated  the  vocational  aim  of  business  arith- 
metic in  the  secondary  school.  One  of  these  aims  is  attained 
when  the  pupil  has  acquired  skill  to  manipulate  figures,  and 
has  become  acquainted  with  all  the  artificial  aids  to  accurate 
and  rapid  calculation.  But  there  is  another  and  perhaps 
even  more  important  phase  of  arithmetic,  and  that  is,  its 
application  to  the  solution  of  practical  business  problems. 
We  have  seen  that  one  of  the  serious  deficiencies  of  the  ele- 
mentary school  graduate  is  his  inability  to  solve  these  appHed 
problems.  Some  of  the  methods  of  attacking  such  problems 
were  indicated  in  the  preceding  section.  Perhaps  a  more 
definite  analysis  of  some  of  the  reasons  for  the  student's  in- 
ability to  reason  out  some  of  the  problems  may  not  be  out  of 
place  here,  even  though  some  of  the  reasons  have  already  been 
indicated.  In  discussing  the  sickness,  it  may  not  be  inappro- 
priate to  indicate  the  remedy. 

(i)  The  problem  work  in  arithmetic  is  not  sufficiently  an 
outgrowth  of  the  business  activities  of  the  student.  As  we 
said  before,  we  will  not  be  wrong  if  in  this  branch  of  the  work 
we  make  the  commercial  activity  phase  (of  which  the  example 


Business  Arithmetic  109 

is  an  outgrowth),  primary,  and  the  arithmetical  part,  second- 
ary.^ A  very  important  aid  in  this  direction  is  the  insistence 
upon  a  certain  amount  of  numerical  work,  with  emphasis 
upon  the  arithmetical  phase  of  the  work  in  such  subjects  as 
bookkeeping,  civics,  or  economics.  An  example  in  discount 
which  the  student  solves,  because  he  is  confronted  with  the 
bookkeeping  problem  of  a  customer  who  has  discounted  his 
bill  and  whom  he  wants  to  know  how  much  to  credit  with,  — 
such  a  problem  will  appear  real  to  the  student.  The  little 
digression  from  the  bookkeeping  work,  which  a  Httle  explana- 
tion of  the  arithmetical  phase  of  the  problem  entails,  will  be  de- 
cidedly worth  while.  Similarly,  in  civics,  the  students  may 
be  given  arithmetical  exercises  in  working  out  the  tax  rate  of 
a  community,  based  upon  given  figures  of  assessed  valuation 
and  budget  requirements.  A  student  who  solves  this  prob- 
lem receives  training  not  only  in  arithmetic,  but  also  in  civics. 
We  can  readily  see  why  the  opportunities  for  the  close 
correlation  of  business  activities  and  arithmetic  are  limited 
in  the  elementary  school.  The  pupil  is  not  mature  enough 
to  understand  such  intricate  problems  as  those  of  foreign 
exchange,  insurance,  etc.,  — not  because  he  is  ignorant  of  the 
numerical  phases  of  the  work,  but  because  his  experience  is 
too  limited  to  apprehend  the  technical  functions,  of  which  the 
numerical  work  is  a  product.  Even  in  the  high  school,  some 
of  these  problems  have  to  be  postponed  to  the  third  year, 
or  at  least  to  a  time  when  the  student  may  have  reached  the 
necessary  maturity  and  obtained  the  prerequisite  experience. 
Empty  definitions  of  business  processes  in  connection  with 
the  arithmetic  course  will  not  satisfy  the  requirement  which 

1  This  point  has  been  strongly  emphasized  by  Dr.  Thomas  Balliet,  Dean  of 
the  New  York  University  School  of  Pedagogy,  in  his  lectures  on  Methods  in 
Arithmetic. 


no     Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

is  imposed  upon  the  teacher  to  bring  the  arithmetical  problems 
into  vital  relation  with  real  Hfe.  Some  notes  on  how  this 
relation  may  be  made  in  connection  with  topics  in  higher 
commercial  arithmetic  we  shall  give  in  what  follows. 

(2)  Another  reason  why  the  pupil  is  apparently  unable  to 
carry  over  his  ability  to  solve  problems  in  arithmetic,  when 
the  same  problems  confront  him  in  real  business,  is  because 
the  book  problems  are  frequently  so  artificial  and  so  out  of 
accord  with,  not  to  say  contrary  to,  conditions  in  business 
life.  A  standard  example  of  this  kind  is  the  so-called  fourth 
case  in  commission  problems.  In  this  case,  the  agent  is  sup- 
posed to  get  a  certain  sum  of  money  which  he  is  to  invest, 
after  he  deducts  his  commission  at  a  certain  per  cent.  Now, 
this  may  be  good  practice  in  indirect  cases  of  percentage,  but 
as  it  gives  a  wrong  notion  of  how  business  is  done,  it  should 
not  be  allowed  in  the  arithmetic,  as  it  will  only  tend  to  con- 
fuse the  mind  of  the  pupil  when  he  handles  actual  problems 
in  commission,  later. 

TOPICS   IN   HIGHER   COMMERCIAL   ARITHMETIC 

{a)  Percentage.  —  The  reason  for  mentioning  this  topic 
as  a  branch  of  business  arithmetic  is  because  most  of  the  frac- 
tions in  business  examples  are  in  the  form  of  per  cents.  Be- 
sides, the  calculation  of  percentage,  apart  from  the  standard 
commercial  applications,  such  as  discount,  interest,  etc.,  is  a 
necessary  requirement  in  the  construction  of  graphs.  A 
graphic  comparison  of  different  volumes  of  product  requires 
a  reduction  of  the  figures  to  scale.  This  can  best  be  done  by 
reducing  the  figures  to  a  percentage  basis,  and  constructing 
the  table  from  these  percentages.  The  teaching  of  percentage, 
as  such,  involves  absolutely  nothing  new,  except  the  form  of 


Business  Arithmetic  m 

writing.  If  the  teacher  emphasized  the  fact  that  a  per  cent 
is  only  another  form  of  writing  a  decimal  with  two  places, 
he  would  eliminate  most  of  the  difficulties  connected  with 
percentage.  If  he  further  shows  the  importance  of  ha\dng 
a  common  denominator  for  all  fractions,  for  purposes  of  com- 
paring their  magnitude,  he  will  bring  out  the  economy  of 
reducing  every  fraction  to  a  decimal  of  two  places,  because 
then  he  will  only  have  to  compare  the  numerators  in  order  . 
to  determine  relative  magnitudes  of  fractions.  Thus,  how 
many  can  tell  at  a  glance  which  is  larger,  ^  or  f  |  ?  As  soon 
as  we  reduce  the  two  fractions  to  a  percentage  form,  we  find 
that  the  first  is  33  %  and  the  second  34  %,  and  instantly  we 
can  make  our  decision. 

{b)  Profit  and  Loss.  —  The  student  has  some  idea  of  the 
meaning  of  trading,  and  this  should  be  made  the  basis  of  the 
presentation  of  the  topic.  The  idea  of  profit  as  the  wage 
of  the  man  who  gets  the  goods  from  the  manufacturer  and 
stores  them  until  such  time  as  the  consumer  will  need  them, 
should  be  brought  out.  Since  the  term  cost  is  so  important 
in  this  work,  a  distinction  should  be  made  between  first  cost, 
or  prime  cost,  and  total  cost.  This  distinction  will  be  empha- 
sized even  more  in  the  bookkeeping  work.  The  main  purpose 
of  the  distinction  in  its  relation  to  trading  is  to  endow 
the  examples  with  a  certain  amount  of  interest  and  relation 
to  practical  fife.  In  some  Unes  of  business  the  selling  price 
is  made  the  base,  but  this  method  is  unscientific  and  really 
unbusinesslike.  However,  in  compliance  with  the  growing 
practice  in  the  jobbing  and  retail  trade  to  base  the  rate  on 
the  selHng  price,  the  teacher  might  assign  problems  in  which 
this  base  is  used,  but  only  after  the  class  is  well  grounded  in 
the  other  method.  Shall  we  consider  the  indirect  cases  of 
the  subject  ?     Certainly,  the  problem  of  finding  the  per  cent 


112    Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

gained  as  distinguished  from  the  actual  amount  gained  is 
not  one  which  satisfies  mere  idle  curiosity.  For  example, 
the  man  who  gains  $1000.00  on  his  sales  may  be  in  a  good 
condition,  while  the  man  who  gains  $10,000.00  may  be  on 
the  verge  of  bankruptcy.  The  only  way  to  tell  is  to  find  what 
per  cent  the  gain  is  of  the  total  cost.  The  indirect  case  in 
which  the  selling  price  is  given  and  we  are  asked  to  find  the 
cost  is  of  very  little  value,  except  to  enable  a  person  to  figure 
approximately  what  an  article  selling  at  a  certain  price  in  a 
rival  store  must  have  cost,  assuming  a  certain  per  cent  of 
profit.  The  most  important  example  from  a  business  point 
of  view  is  to  find  what  I  must  sell  a  given  article  for  in  order 
to  gain  a  certain  per  cent  on  the  total  cost ;  and  this  problem 
is  only  an  application  of  the  direct  case. 

(c)  Commission.  —  This  topic  should  also  be  introduced 
by  a  short  presentation  of  the  work  of  the  commission  mer- 
chant and  agent,  and  the  work  he  does  for  the  community. 
The  reward  for  his  services  may  be  a  salary,  but  more  commonly 
it  is  a  percentage  on  sales,  as  an  incentive  for  greater  effort 
on  his  part.  In  addition  to  the  usual  problems  on  the  sub- 
ject, the  teacher  should  give  the  student  the  opportunity  to 
make  an  Account  Sales  rendered  by  the  agent,  using  the  data 
of  a  given  example.  The  so-called  fourth  case  of  commission, 
which  presents  problems  in  which  the  amount  sent  to  the 
agent  is  stated,  including  both  his  commission  and  the  amount 
of  the  investment,  should  not  be  taught  at  all,  because  it  is 
contrary  to  business  practice.  The  finding  of  the  total  sales 
from  the  rate  and  the  commission  may  be  of  value,  because 
it  may  satisfy  the  desire  of  the  merchant  to  know  the  total 
volume  of  business  done  by  an  agent,  taking  as  a  basis  com- 
missions paid  to  him  and  the  rate. 

(d)  Trade  Discount.  —  The  reasons  for  granting  discount 


Business  Arithmetic  113 

should  be  discussed,  as,  for  example,  special  concessions  to 
customers  for  buying  large  quantities,  for  paying  cash,  etc. 
The  reason  for  two  or  three  trade  discounts  may  thus  be 
^  brought  out.  The  reason  for  artificial  catalogue  or  list  price 
should  also  be  considered.  The  indirect  case  —  what  must 
I  mark  a  certain  article  in  order  to  be  able  to  grant  a  certain 
discount  ?  —  may  also  be  taught,  even  though  it  may  reveal  a 
business  practice  of  doubtful  integrity.  Thus,  it  may  show 
that  certain  merchants  are  in  the  habit  of  marking  their 
goods  up,  so  as  to  be  able  to  pretend  that  they  are  granting  a 
price  concession. 

(e)  Interest.  —  The  motive  for  interest  should  be  developed 
from  a  concrete  instance  of  money  lent ;  the  use  to  which  the 
borrower  can  put  the  money;  the  deprivation  the  lender 
suffers  and  the  risk  he  assumes.  Hence,  the  latter  is  entitled 
to  compensation.  The  borrower  pays  for  the  benefit  he  de- 
rives, and  the  lender  is  paid  for  his  deprivation  and  risk.  The 
time  element  naturally  becomes  material,  because  the  longer 
the  period  of  respective  benefit  or  deprivation,  the  greater 
the  amount  paid.  An  elementary  discussion  of  the  legal  rate 
and  the  term  usury  should  also  be  included.  Of  course,  this 
subject  is  also  considered  in  law  and  economics  later  on,  but 
an  elementary  discussion  here  is  a  good  preparation  for  the 
advanced  subjects.  The  teacher  should  not  omit  to  take  ad- 
vantage of  a  practical  lesson  which  he  can  give  to  the  students 
on  the  inverse  relation  between  a  high  rate  of  interest  and  the 
safety  of  an  investment. 

In  connection  with  methods  of  computing  interest,  the  basic 
method  —  multiplying  the  principal  by  the  rate  and  the 
time  in  years,  in  order  to  find  the  interest  —  should  be  given 
first.  It  establishes  the  rational  foundation  for  all  the  other 
methods,  and  besides,  the  others  are  only  short  cuts  of  this. 


114    Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

Again,  the  purpose  is  very  conveniently  stated  in  a  formula, 
and  this  formula  is  very  useful  in  solving  all  the  indirect  cases 
of  interest.  With  regard  to  short-cut  methods  for  practical 
calculation,  the  sixty-day  method  is  the  most  important,  be- 
cause it  is  the  one  most  convenient  for  bankers,  —  but  there 
is  no  particular  reason  for  insisting  upon  one  method.  If  the 
student  has  an  intcUigcnt  understanding  of  the  rational  foun- 
dation of  the  short  cut  he  uses,  there  is  no  objection  to  his 
using  it. 

(/)  Bank  Discount.  —  The  motive  here  is  arrived  at  by 
considering  the  needs  of  the  manufacturer,  who  has  to  pay 
out  cash  on  account  of  goods  he  is  manufacturing,  in  the  form 
of  rent,  labor,  etc.,  before  he  receives  any  money  for  those 
goods,  and  sometimes  even  before  he  has  sold  them.  The 
function  of  the  bank  and  the  place  of  credit  have  to  be  shown 
in  an  elementary  way.  The  manufacturer  borrows  money 
from  the  bank,  gives  his  promissory  note,  and  pays  the  bank 
for  its  accommodation.  This  payment  is  the  discount  which 
the  bank  deducts  in  advance  from  the  amount  lent.  The  in- 
struments of  credit  should  be  considered,  the  student  should 
be  given  practice  in  writing  out  such  instruments,  and  in 
discounting  promissory  notes ;  first,  those  in  which  no  interest 
is  mentioned,  and  next,  those  which  are  interest  bearing.  Most 
of  the  examples  should  involve  30- ,  60-,  and  90-  day  notes,  rather 
than  one-month,  two-month,  and  three-month  notes.  Those 
above  90  days  are  usually  expressed  in  months.  There 
should  be  some  correlation  with  law,  at  least  to  the  extent 
of  explaining  the  meaning  of  "  protest  "  and  the  legal  effect 
and  the  liability  of  indorsers.  The  indirect  case  of  bank  dis- 
count, that  is,  finding  the  face  when  the  proceeds  are  given, 
should  be  used  only  to  a  limited  extent  because  of  its  infre- 
quent use  in  business.     It  may  be  important  to  the  customer 


Business  Arithmetic  115 

who  wants  to  find  out  for  how  much  he  must  make  a  note  or 
draw  a  bill  in  order  to  have  a  certain  amount  available.  Cer- 
tain phases  of  business  practice,  like  the  use  of  the  draft  for 
collection  purposes,  and  the  bill-of-lading  with  draft  attached, 
need  not  be  considered  in  the  work  in  arithmetic. 

(g)  Stocks  and  Bonds.  —  This  subject  is  related  to  the  func- 
tion which  the  large  corporation  fulfils  in  modern  life.  The 
student  is  shown  that  the  carrying  out  of  great  enterprises 
involves  large  outlay  of  capital  and  the  necessity  for  cooper- 
ation of  many  persons.  The  stock  certificate  is  an  evidence 
of  a  man's  partnership  in  the  enterprise,  and  his  ownership 
entitles  him  to  profits  known  as  dividends.  The  terms  par 
value  and  market  value  should  be  carefully  distinguished, 
and  reasons  given  for  fluctuations  in  the  price  of  stock.  The 
broker,  his  services  and  compensation,  and  the  function  of 
the  stock  exchange  should  also  be  explained.  In  connection 
with  the  dividend,  reasons  should  be  given  for  computing 
the  rate  of  return  on  the  par  value  and  ignoring  the  market 
value,  as  the  corporation  itself  is  not  supposed  to  be  concerned 
technically  with  the  price  which  its  stock  brings  in  the  market. 

The  most  important  problem  in  investments  is  probably 
the  computing  of  the  rate  of  return  which  a  certain  invest- 
ment yields,  and  the  making  of  comparison  between  the  in- 
come return  of  difTerent  stocks.  Again,  the  relation  between 
safety  and  interest  return  should  be  emphasized,  especially 
in  connection  with  bonds.  Many  interesting  problems  along 
this  fine  may  be  given,  as,  the  comparative  income  return 
of  different  railroad  bonds,  industrial  bonds,  city  bonds,  and 
government  bonds.  Many  interesting  generalizations  may 
be  drawn  from  this  comparison,  but  to  make  the  work  real, 
examples  should  be  taken  directly  from  newspapers,  using 
current  quotations.     It  is  absurd  to  take  quotations  from  an 


ii6     Principles  iuul  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

old  text-book,  that  arc  entirely  out  of  date,  and  draw  any 
generalizations  on  the  basis  of  those  antiquated  figures.  As 
we  indicated  in  the  discussion  of  commercial  geography  and 
the  technique  of  commerce,  the  student  should  be  taught  how 
to  use  the  commercial  and  financial  page  of  the  newspapers, 
as  a  valuable  source  of  information.  Of  course,  we  must  not 
lose  sight  of  the  danger  that  a  student  may  become  interested 
in  stock  speculation  as  such.  It  is  the  duty  of  the  teacher 
to  warn  the  students  that  large  returns  cannot  be  expected 
without  running  the  risk  of  large  losses,  and  that  safety  lies 
in  being  conservative  and  expecting  small  returns. 

{h)  Partial  Payments.  —  These  examples  are  still  included 
in  the  course  of  study,  although  they  are  of  very  little  use. 
Partial  payment  notes  are  not  very  usual  in  business  nowa- 
days, separate  notes  being  given  for  the  amount  of  each  in- 
stalment. The  reason  is  that  the  debtor  cannot  be  absolutely 
certain  that  the  creditor  has  indorsed  the  amount  of  payment 
on  the  note.  If  he  fails  to  do  so,  there  is  a  possibility  that 
he  may  be  asked  to  pay  a  second  time  by  a  stranger  to  whom 
the  note  might  be  endorsed.  The  examples  given  should  be 
confined  to  appHcations  of  the  United  States  rule  and  the 
instalments  ought  to  be  made  payable  at  regular  intervals. 

{i)  Compound  Interest  and  its  Applications.  — The  motive 
here  is  the  incentive  to  thrift  in  leaving  interest  in  the  savings 
bank  to  draw  interest  again.  Illustrate  the  possibility  of  such 
a  scheme,  and  the  result  of  the  accumulation  for  about  thirty 
years.  As  a  rule,  it  is  a  waste  of  time  to  solve  compound 
interest  problems  by  the  long  method.  Either  compound 
interest  tables  should  be  used,  or  else  problems  should  be 
worked  by  means  of  the  formula  and  wdth  the  aid  of  logarithms. 
As  the  chief  applications  of  compound  interest  are  to  such 
problems  as  endowment  insurance,  annuities,  and  amortiza- 


Business  Arithmetic  117 

tion,  or  in  other  words,  to  accountancy  of  investment, 
the  subject  can  be  effectively  considered  only  in  connection 
with  the  work  in  advanced  algebra  and  advanced  commercial 
arithmetic.  To  the  one  who  intends  to  make  accountancy 
his  profession,  this  phase  of  the  subject  will  be  of  the  greatest 
importance. 

(/)  Other  Applications  of  Percentage.  —  There  are  two  appli- 
cations of  percentage  that  are  very  closely  connected  with 
government  fmance,  and  that  may  also  be  reserved  for  the 
advanced  course  in  arithmetic. 

(i)  Taxes. — As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  lesson  on  taxes  is 
just  as  much  a  lesson  in  civics  as  one  in  arithmetic,  and  the 
teacher  of  government  loses  an  opportunity  for  correlation  if 
he  fails  to  include  in  his  course,  problems  in  connection  with 
the  budget  and  assessed  valuation.  The  subject  is  to  be 
introduced  by  considering  the  fact  that  it  costs  money  to  run 
the  various  activities  of  the  government.  This  suggests 
methods  of  obtaining  the  money.  In  answering  the  question 
how  much  it  will  cost  to  run  the  government,  we  should  take 
an  actual  budget,  using  round  figures.  Since  the  property 
holders  pay  the  expenses  of  running  the  government  on  the 
basis  of  what  their  property  is  worth,  the  matter  of  assessed 
valuation  of  the  property  and  the  means  of  arriving  at  it 
comes  up.  The  tax  rate  for  the  city  is  determined  and  the 
necessity  of  a  uniform  rate  emphasized.  Among  the  problems 
to  present,  the  most  important  are  :  How  much  will  a  certain 
l^roperty  have  to  pay  in  taxes  ?  What  will  be  the  net  income 
of  the  landlord,  after  he  pays  interest  charges,  taxes,  and 
insurance?  Additional  problems  upon  the  budget  include: 
What  per  cent  of  the  city's  income  is  spent  upon  education  ? 
upon  the  police  ?  upon  the  streets  ?  Compare  these  different 
rates  and  draw  conclusions  from  this  comparison.     Figure 


ii8    Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

out  how  much  your  landlord  pays  upon  his  property.  Out  of 
what  money  does  he  pay  the  taxes?  What  part  of  the  total 
rent  of  the  house  does  your  father  pay?  What  part  of  the 
total  tax  does  he  therefore  pay  ?  How  much  of  the  rent  which 
he  pays  is  actually  contributed  to  the  city  government 
through  the  agency  of  the  landlord? 

(2)  Customs  and  Duties.  —  This  topic  is  also  closely  cor- 
related with  civics.  The  development  would  be  along  the 
following  lines:  (a)  The  necessity  of  securing  money  to  run 
the  government  in  Washington.  (The  necessity  for  a  pro- 
tective tarilT  need  not  be  brought  in.)  {b)  The  estimated 
cost  of  running  the  government  suggests  a  brief  statement 
of  what  the  United  States  government  does  for  us.  The 
ordinary  study  of  the  three  divisions  of  the  government,  the 
terms  of  congressmen,  etc.,  etc.,  may  be  important,  but  it  is 
too  barren  for  this  purpose.  Some  concrete  facts  of  what 
the  government  does  for  the  individual  citizens  should  be 
noted.  A  detailed  discussion  would  belong  to  a  separate 
lesson,  but  here  such  topics  may  be  considered  as  the  work  of 
the  government  for  pure  food,  its  help  to  the  farmer,  the  coin- 
ing of  money,  the  national  defence,  the  pensions,  etc.,  etc. 
(c)  The  tariff  schedule  —  ad  valorem  duties  (specific  duties  are 
practically  unknown  now) ;  the  consular  invoice,  (d)  Prob- 
lems involving  duties.  Comparison  of  rates  of  duties  on  dif- 
ferent articles.  Reasons  for  the  diflerencc.  (e)  Miscel- 
laneous problems,  involving  duties  as  an  element  in  the  cost 
of  an  article. 

(k)  Foreign  Exchange.  —  This  topic  is  so  closely  connected 
with  economics  that  an  explanation  of  the  entire  mechanism 
of  foreign  exchange,  including  such  topics  as  the  rate  of  dis- 
count, the  gold  export  point,  and  related  questions,  might 
be  left  to  the  course  in  technique  of  commerce  or  applied  eco- 


Business  Arithmetic  119 

nomics.  If,  at  this  stage  of  arithmetical  study,  the  work  in 
that  course  has  been  taken  up,  it  may  be  appropriately  re- 
viewed in  the  advanced  commercial  arithmetic.  Such  prob- 
lems, however,  as  are  connected  with  the  conversion  from  one 
money  standard  into  another,  and  customs  and  duties  prob- 
lems involving  this  conversion,  as  well  as  that  from  the  metric 
system  to  our  own  system,  may  appropriately  be  given.  In 
the  technique  of  commerce  course,  we  expect  the  student 
to  understand  the  quotations  as  they  are  given  in  the  news- 
papers, and  the  work  in  arithmetic  in  this  connection  should 
aid  in  this  understanding. 

The  Course  of  Study.  —  A  brief  discussion  of  this  is  essen- 
tial, because  our  curriculum  presupposes  two  courses :  an  ele- 
mentary one  in  the  first  year,  and  an  advanced  course  in  the 
last  year.  The  essential  topics  to  be  considered  in  the  entire 
course  have  already  been  mentioned  at  length.  In  this  con- 
nection it  will  therefore  be  necessary  to  treat  of  the  distri- 
bution of  topics  over  the  two  years  of  the  course. 

In  the  first  year,  we  must  emphasize  drill  work  in  integers, 
fractions,  and  denominate  numbers,  together  with  their  practi- 
cal applications.  Among  these  are  simple  industrial  problems 
connected  with  carpeting,  plastering,  board  measure,  etc. 
It  has  been  suggested  that  a  differentiation  in  the  practical 
appUcations  ought  to  be  made  with  classes  of  girls.  Prob- 
lems connected  with  domestic  art  and  economy  should  have 
an  important  place  in  such  classes.  Simple  mensuration 
should  also  be  taken  up  in  this  connection,  and  not  post- 
poned to  the  time  when  the  entire  commercial  arithmetic 
has  practically  been  completed. 

The  requirements  of  bookkeeping  and  business  practice  will 
compel  us  to  give  the  simpler  phases  of  percentage,  profit 
and  loss,  commission,   trade   discount,   simple  interest,   and 


120    Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

bank  discount,  in  the  second  part  of  the  first  year.  A  more 
elaborate  treatment  of  these  topics  may  be  left  to  the  advanced 
courses. 

Should  any  of  the  topics  enumerated  above  be  considered 
again  in  the  advanced  course  in  the  last  year?  The  best 
authorities  on  the  teaching  of  arithmetic  are  agreed  that  a 
spiral  course,  one  in  which  the  work  in  lower  grades  is  repeated, 
from  a  more  advanced  point  of  view,  in  the  higher  grades, 
is  the  most  effective.  Let  us  see  what  basis  there  is  for  be- 
lieving that  the  effective  conditions  for  spiral  repetition  exist 
in  the  last  year.  First,  there  is  the  larger  knowledge  of  algebra 
which  enables  the  student  to  apprehend  the  principles  of 
numbers,  from  their  scientific  foundation.  Secondly,  there  is 
a  large  body  of  business  experience  that  enables  the  student 
to  take  up  effectively  more  difficult  commercial  applications 
of  percentage.  Thirdly,  there  is  a  knowledge  of  geometry 
which  makes  possible  an  intelligent  consideration  of  men- 
suration problems. 

A  course  in  the  last  year  should,  therefore,  comprise  numeri- 
cal or  drill  work,  with  special  relation  to  artificial  labor-saving 
devices,  such  as  tables ;  a  more  complete  consideration  of 
short  cuts  than  in  the  first  year,  with  special  reference  to  their 
algebraic  foundation.  Besides  a  more  complete  treatment 
of  the  commercial  applications  considered  in  the  first  year, 
several  other  applications  of  percentage  should  be  taken,  such 
as  compound  interest,  investments,  foreign  exchange,  and  taxes 
and  duties.  The  arithmetic  necessary  to  the  accountancy  of 
investment,  such  as  problems  in  amortization,  annuities,  etc., 
should  receive  special  attention.  In  mensuration,  we  should  in- 
clude the  metric  system,  together  with  more  difficult  industrial 
applications.  In  girls'  classes,  problems  connected  with  the 
measurement  of  dress  material  should  receive  special  attention. 


Business  Arithmetic  121 

Special  Methods.  —  There  is  very  little  to  say  about 
special  methods  in  this  connection  that  has  not  already  been 
said  either  in  Chapter  III  or  in  this  chapter.  In  this  con- 
nection, it  will  only  be  necessary  to  make  a  few  brief  remarks. 
Should  the  inductive  method  be  used  in  commercial  arithme- 
tic in  view  of  the  fact  that  many  of  the  topics  have  already 
been  presented  in  the  elementary  school?  It  should  be  used, 
by  all  means,  because  it  is  the  only  concrete  approach  to  the 
subject,  and  because  it  brings  out  the  better  relation  between 
the  concrete  experience  of  the  pupil  and  the  numerical  work. 
Suppose  this  connection  has  been  shown  before?  So  much 
the  better.  The  task  of  building  the  bridge  from  the  known 
to  the  unknown  will  therefore  be  very  much  simpler.  The 
Herbartian  formal  steps  lend  themselves  very  nicely  to  the 
presentation  of  the  subject.  In  the  preparation  stage  we 
should  emphasize  motive  or  purpose.  The  stages  of  presenta- 
tion and  generalization  do  not  involve  much  effort.  The 
stage  of  application  is  perhaps  the  most  important  one  in 
connection  with  drill,  from  the  standpoint  of  results.  We 
omit  detailed  consideration  of  it  here,  because  it  has  been 
abundantly  covered  in  the  discussion  of  drill  in  arith- 
metic. 

We  may  add  a  few  suggestions  on  aids  and  devices  in  the 
recitation. 

(A)  The  Subdivision  of  Difficulties.  —  The  teacher  is  apt  to 
attempt  to  present  too  many  points  at  a  time,  or  to  make  the 
mistake  of  presenting  problems  with  unusual  figures,  the 
manipulation  of  which  divides  the  attention.  The  teacher 
should  have  in  mind  the  elimination  of  this  fault. 

(B)  The  Blackboard.  —  If  the  work  in  commercial  arithmetic 
is  not  primarily  discipHnary,  should  the  same  amount  of 
blackboard  work  be  insisted  upon  as  in  other  branches  of 


122    Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

mathematics?  This  is  a  question  which  is  sometimes  asked, 
but  we  fail  to  see  why  only  certain  subjects  should  monopolize 
board  operations.  We  favor  a  continuous,  liberal,  and  varied 
use  of  the  board,  for  two  reasons : 

{a)  the  teacher  can  inspect  more  work  easily,  and 

{b)  students,  especially  boys,  enjoy  this  kind  of  exercise. 
Different  problems  may  be  worked  by  each  pupil  at  one  time ; 
and  at  another  those  at  the  blackboard  may  be  divided  into 
groups  of  three  or  four,  so  that  though  some  are  at  work  on  the 
same  problem,  the  temptation  to  copy  is  minimized ;  and 
sometimes,  in  drill  work,  all  pupils  at  the  board  might  work 
the  same  problem.  If  time  permits,  pupils  are  to  explain  their 
own  work,  and  members  of  the  class  encouraged  to  ask  ques- 
tions. Sometimes  it  is  better  for  the  instructor  to  explain 
all  or  most  of  the  work,  because  he  can  cover  more  ground. 
The  point  is,  that  no  fixed  form  should  be  adhered  to,  so  as 
to  avoid  "  falling  into  a  rut." 

(C)  Oral  Work. —  Much  more  oral  work  than  the  teacher 
usually  finds  time  for  should  be  planned.  The  modern  text 
furnishes  more  examples  than  the  old  ones,  and  some  few 
special  booklets  are  on  the  market.  Every  oral  recitation 
should  be  an  exercise  in  good  EngUsh,  and  to  this  end,  a  good 
exercise  consists  of  requiring  statements  from  the  pupils  as 
to  how  problems  are  to  be  solved. 

{D)  Diagrams. — We  cannot  too  strongly  urge  the  advisability 
of  utilizing  the  benefits  which  come  from  the  illustrations  sug- 
gested by  many  of  the  problems  of  commercial  arithmetic. 
We  see  no  objection  to  insisting  upon  rough  sketches  for  all 
work  in  practical  measurements.  Outside  of  the  aid  which 
such  drawings  furnish  to  a  better  understanding  of  the  prob- 
lem, and  the  clearer  visualization  which  such  exercise  pro- 
motes, it  is  our  experience  that  the  boy  who  shows  extreme 


Business  Arithmetic  123 

signs  of  mental  inertia  will  be  encouraged  to  analyze  examples 
when  he  has  become  accustomed  to  "  draw  "  them. 

{E)  The  Text-book.  —  Before  accepting  a  text-book,  it  is 
necessary  to  make  sure  that  it  includes  all  that  one  considers 
essential;  it  is  easy  enough  to  omit  portions.  We  trust 
that  no  teacher  will  fall  into  the  error  of  the  schoolmaster 
who  tried  to  teach  cube  root  for  no  other  reason  than  because 
it  was  in  the  book.  Inasmuch  as  the  number  of  topics  is 
to  be  reduced,  we  are  enabled  to  insist  upon  a  larger  number 
of  well-selected  and  well-arranged  problems.  As  we  realize 
that  modern  arithmetic  deals  with  business,  and  as  it  is  often 
difficult  to  obtain  samples  of  forms  referred  to  by  the  text, 
we  should  select  such  books  as  show  photographic  reproduc- 
tions of  these  very  forms.  The  text-book  should  also  give 
problems  that  are  real,  and  should  eliminate  such  as  are  in- 
consistent with  business  practice.  One  other  point  remains 
for  treatment.  It  is,  whether  to  use  books  with  or  without 
answers.  We  are  familiar  with  all  the  objections  against  plac- 
ing answers  in  the  hands  of  pupils,  but  their  advantage  appeals 
to  us  so  greatly  that  we  feel  the  abuses  they  may  lead  to  can 
be  counteracted.  But  this  is  a  question  which  may  well  be 
left  with  the  teachers  themselves. 

As  to  the  use  of  a  text-book  in  arithmetic,  very  little  need 
be  said.  The  principal  uses  of  the  book  are :  to  give  drill 
exercises,  and  to  save  time  in  the  dictation  of  problems,  and, 
in  the  newer  texts,  to  furnish  illustrations  of  commercial 
papers  and  forms  not  easily  obtainable  elsewhere.  Finally, 
the  good  text  serves'  to  crystallize  the  classroom  discussion 
of  a  topic  and  affords  the  best  medium  for  reviews. 

(F)  Teacher's  Note-book.— The  teacher  will  find  it  desirable 
to  set  additional  problems  from  time  to  time.  Too  often  the 
mistake  is  made  of  destroying  these,  as  the  occasion  which 


124     Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

called  them  into  use  has  passed  away.  If,  instead,  they  were 
placed  in  a  note-book,  and  answers  attached,  a  surprisingly 
valuable  collection  would  develop  in  a  short  period  of  time. 
What  has  just  been  said  applies  with  even  greater  force  to 
examination  problems.  Again,  an  important  source  of  addi- 
tional problems,  as  we  have  shown,  is  the  newspaper,  and 
many  of  the  problems  derived  from  this  source  can  also  be 
preserved  in  the  note-book  for  future  use. 

(G)  Examination.  —  Nothing  is  more  discouraging  to  the 
pupils  than  a  bad  failure  on  a  test.  In  arithmetic,  formal 
tests  might  come  as  frequently  as  once  a  month.  If  an 
examination  consists  of  live  problems,  two  of  them  should  be 
easy  enough  to  insure  that  almost  every  member  of  the  class 
can  pass  them.  The  other  three  should  be  more  diflScult  so  as 
to  call  for  much  higher  ability.  After  all  that  is  said  of  its 
disadvantages,  the  examination  in  arithmetic  is  the  greatest 
aid  to  efficient  results.  It  compels  accurate  and  definite  re- 
sults, and  gives  the  necessary  opportunity  for  training  in 
rapidity  of  judgment.  Besides,  the  examination  in  arithmetic 
is  free  from  the  disagreeable  feature  of  cramming,  which  is 
one  of  the  most  objectionable  phases  of  examinations  in  most 
subjects. 

OUTLINE   INDUCTIVE   LESSON   IN   ARITHMETIC 

Topic:  Interest 

A.    Purpose  and  Preparation. 

(i)  Motive :  The  occasions  for  borrowing  money  in 
business  life  ;  the  use  to  which  the  borrowers  can 
put  the  money,  the  deprivations  the  lender 
suffers,  and  the  consequent  compensation  to 
which  he  is  entitled. 


Business  Arithmetic  125 

(2)  Preparation  (General) :  Definition  of  interest ;   ele- 

ments upon  which  amount  of  interest  depends; 
sum  lent  (principal),  time,  and  rate ;  reasons  for 
including  these  elements. 

(3)  Preparation  (Arithmetical) : 

1.  Call  attention  of  class  to  the  fact  that  interest 

is  one  of   the   apphcations  of  percentage, 
because  the  rate  is  expressed  in  hundredths. 

2.  Have  them  find  5  %  of  $100.00,  etc.     What  is 

the  interest  on  $100.00  at  5  %  for  one  year  ? 
for  one-half  year,  etc.  ? 

3.  Develop  the  fact  that  interest  examples  are 

ordinary    percentage    examples    with     the 
element  of  time  added. 

B.  Presentation. 

1.  Find  the  interest  on  $1.00  @  6  %  for  one  year. 

Ans.  S.06. 

2.  Find  the  interest  on  $1.00  @  6%  for  60  days. 

Ans.  (l  of  .06).     $.01. 

3.  Find  the  interest  on  $1.00  @  6%  for  6  days. 

Ans.  (y5  of  .01).     $.001. 

4.  Similar   problems   with    principal    (base)    as 

multiples  of  $1.00. 

5.  Similar  problems  with  time  as  multiples  of 

60  days. 

6.  Similar  problems  with  time  as   multiples   of 

6  days. 

7.  Similar  problems  with  time  as  fractional  parts 

of  60  and  6  days. 

C.  Comparison. 

I.  The  class  should  notice  that  in  problems  of 
the  type 


126    Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

a.  the  interest  at  6  %  on  $200.00  for  60  days 

is  $2.00. 

b.  the  interest  at  6%  on  $200.00  for  120  days 

is  $4.00. 

c.  the  interest  at  6%  on  $?oo.oo  for  30  days 

is  $1.00. 

2.  That  all  elements  involved  are  the  same  except 

the  time. 

3.  a.  That  the  interest  changes  with  the  time, 

and 
b.   that     the    interest    is    easily    obtainable 
from  the  amount  for  60  days. 

D.  Generalization. 

1.  To  find  interest  at  6  %  for  60  days,  point  off 

two  places. 

2.  To  find  interest  at  6  %  for  6  days,  point  off 

three  places. 

3.  To  find  interest  at  6  %  for  a  different  number 

of  days,  proceed  according  to  i  and   2 
above,  and  modify  answer. 

E.  Application. 

Problems  assigned  to  drill  on  principles  just  taught. 
In  connection  with  these  problems,  take  up  a  fuller 
discussion  of  such  topics  as  legal  rate,  usury,  risk 
elements  in  loans,  and  comparison  of  high  interest 
rate  with  safety  of  an  investment. 

SUMMARY 

Though  at  first  it  may  appear  surprising  to  include  commer- 
cial arithmetic  in  the  high  school  course,  a  recognition  of  the 
fact  that  the  elementary  school  graduate  requires  additional 


Business  Arithmetic  127 

training,  and  that  the  subject  is  distinctly  a  vocational  one, 
justifies  this  inclusion.  An  examination  of  the  causes  of  fail- 
ure in  arithmetic  leads  to  the  estabhshment  of  the  methods 
that  should  be  followed  in  order  to  assure  success.  One  almost 
insuperable  difl5culty  confronts  the  teacher  who  reaUzes  that 
it  is  not  wise  to  attempt  a  treatment  of  all  topics  in  arithmetic, 
but  that  it  is  much  better  to  emphasize  selected  divisions. 
Professor  McMurry's  rules  for  elimination  of  topics  are  safe 
to  follow. 

The  high  school  teacher  aims  to  inculcate  accuracy,  speed, 
and  ability  to  tackle  new  problems.  Accuracy  and  speed  sug- 
gest inteUigent  drill ;  abihty  to  tackle  new  problems,  a  thor- 
ough understanding  of  the  subject.  In  connection  with  carry- 
ing out  this  latter  aim,  the  applications  of  algebra  are  most 
useful. 

The  high  school  work  in  arithmetic  serves  to  throw  addi- 
tional hght  upon  the  subjects  of  business  practice  and  civics. 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  very  frequently  the  lesson  is  rather  one  in 
civil  government  or  business  practice  than  in  arithmetical 
drill. 

EXERCISES 

GROUP  ONE 

1.  How  would  the  elementary  school  treatment  of  bank  discount 
differ  from  that  of  the  high  school  ? 

2.  State  your  objections  to  including  cube  root  as  a  part  of  the  high 
school  course  in  arithmetic.     Justify  your  stand. 

3.  Why  is  algebra  advocated  for  commercial  pupils  in  the  high  school  ? 
Discuss  fully. 

4.  Discuss  the  pedagogic  advantages  which  accrue  from  the  employ- 
ment of  formulas. 

5.  With  the  limited  time  at  your  disposal,  how  would  you  provide  for 
suflBcient  drill  in  business  arithmetic  ? 


128    Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

6.  What  principles  would  guide  you  in  selecting  topics  for  the  high 
school  course  in  commercial  arithmetic  ? 

7.  Stale  what  devices  you  would  employ  in  order  to  make  drill  work 
interesting. 

8.  Justify  the  offering  of  commercial  arithmetic  in  the  high  schools. 

9.  Show  how  the  course  in  arithmetic  may  be  correlated  with  the  work 
in  civics  and  business  practice. 

10.  *\Vhat  is  the  value  of  the  examination  in  commercial  arithmetic? 
What  principles  would  guide  you  in  preparing  an  examination  pajxir  ? 

GROUP  TWO 

1 .  Criticise  the  ordinary  course  in  commercial  arithmetic,  and  suggest 
changes  which  would  make  it  of  greater  service  to  high  school  girls. 

2.  Prepare  a  detailed  syllabus  for  the  first  term  of  the  high  school. 
Justify  your  selection  of  topics  and  their  sequence. 

3.  Outline  a  model  lesson  in  commission,  suitable  as  a  type  to  be 
followed  by  the  teachers  of  your  department. 

4.  Prepare  notes  on  a  series  of  six  one-hour  conferences  with  begin- 
ning teachers  of  business  arithmetic. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Byrnes,  Richman,  and  Roberts,  PupiVs  Arithmetic,  Books  V  and  VI. 

New  York,  Macmillan  Co.,  1913. 
Coleman,  S.  E.,  Algebraic  Arithmetic.     New  York,  Macmillan  Co.,  1897. 
Moore  and  Miner,  Practical  Business  Arithnetic.    New  York,  Ginn  & 

Co.,  1906. 
Thurston,  E.  L.,  Business  Arithmetic  for  Secondary  Pupils.     New  York, 

Macmillan  Co.,  1913. 
Van  Tuyl,  G.  H.,  Complete  Business  Arithmetic.     New  York,   Amer. 

Book  Co.,  191 1. 
Young,  J.  W.  A.,  Teaching  of  Mathematics  in  Elementary  and  Secondary 

Schools.     New  York,  Longmans,  Green  &  Co.,  1907. 

Bibliographical  Note.  "  Material  for  Arithmetical  Problems,"  pubhshed 
by  the  Division  of  Reference  and  Research,  Department  of  Education, 
New  York  City,  contains  a  wealth  of  problems  related  to  business, 
social,  and  civic  life. 


CHAPTER   V 
Office  Practice  and  Routine 

the  pedagogic  basis 

Some  practical  teachers  believe  that  office  work  can  be 
learned  only  by  serving  an  apprenticeship  in  actual  business. 
But  most  educators  agree  that  much  of  the  preUminary  train- 
ing may  be  acquired  in  school.  It  is  accordingly  necessary  to 
devote  some  attention  to  the  pedagogic  basis  underlying  a 
proper  presentation  of  the  subjects  which  constitute  the  main 
divisions  of  this  chapter.  These  topics  are  penmanship,  busi- 
ness forms,  and  office  routine. 

(a)  Penmanship.  —  Upon  first  glance,  it  seems  almost  super- 
fluous to  include  as  a  part  of  the  present  chapter  anything 
dealing  with  penmanship.  It  would  seem  as  though  the  last 
word  has  been  spoken  on  the  subject.  But  there  are  a  number 
of  topics  intimately  connected  with  the  matter  under  discus- 
sion, which  we  deem  it  well  to  place  before  the  reader.  The 
first  deals  with  the  importance  of  penmanship  itself ;  the 
second  with  the  way  teachers  of  commercial  branches,  and 
others  who  are  not  good  penmen,  may  acquire  an  acceptable 
business  style  of  writing  ;  and,  finally,  the  method  of  teaching 
this  subject  to  pupils  of  high  school  grade. 

What  are  the  earmarks  of  a  good  hand  ?  First,  and  prob- 
ably of  highest  importance,  is  legibility.  Writing  is  to  be 
read ;  if  it  cannot  be  deciphered  easily  and  without  effort,  it 
lacks  an  essential  quahty.     Still,  legibility  is  not  the  only 

K  129 


130     Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

norm.  Were  it  such,  we  should  argue  in  favor  of  a  printed 
form  of  penmanship.  Speed,  too,  is  an  essential  of  a  good 
hand.  Legible  and  quick,  writing,  then,  is  necessary  for  suc- 
cessful business  use.  The  question  now  becomes :  What 
writing  combines  these  two  important  characteristics?  For- 
tunately, we  are  not  compelled  to  do  pioneer  work  in  this 
field ;  others  have  performed  the  task  thoroughly.  The 
cramped  finger  writing  of  the  past  decades  no  longer  obtains. 
Educators  are  now  quite  unanimously  in  favor  of  free-arm, 
muscular-movement  writing. 

By  free-arm-movement  writing  all  do  not  mean  the  very 
same  thing.  Upon  one  point,  however,  all  are  agreed.  It 
signifies  a  more  general  use  of  the  arm  muscles  and  a  corre- 
sponding decrease  in  the  employment  of  the  fingers.  It  makes 
for  the  ability  to  continue  writing  over  long  periods  of  time, 
with  a  uniform  speed  and  a  uniform  degree  of  legibility,  and 
at  the  same  time  avoids  the  old  penalty  paid  by  scribes, 
namely,  "  writer's  cramp."  Free-arm  or  muscular-move- 
ment writing  may  be  writing  produced  entirely  by  motion 
residing  within  the  forearm,  or  it  may  combine  this  type  with 
secondary  finger  movement.  In  either  case,  the  pen  is  held 
lightly  ;  some  insist  that  the  pen  point  over  the  right  shoulder, 
and  that  the  first,  or  first  and  second  fingers  and  the  cushion 
of  the  arm  muscle  alone  rest  upon  the  surface  of  the  table. 
Details  regarding  the  relative  merits  of  some  of  the  rival 
systems  need  not  detain  us  in  the  present  connection. 

There  are  some  who  hold  that  a  teacher  can  instruct  in  any 
subject,  provided  he  is  a  master  of  method  and  that  there 
exists  a  text-book  on  the  topic.  This  is  possibly  true,  but 
surely  an  unethical  stand  to  take  by  the  teacher  who  essays  to 
handle  a  class  in  penmanship  without  being  able  himself  to 
do  the  work  he  wishes  his  pupils  to  accomplish.     Moreover, 


Office  Practice  and  Routine  131 

in  manual  work  and  in  matters  of  the  hand,  just  as  much  as 
in  matters  of  the  mind,  the  teacher  must  be  a  leader.  He 
should  teach  by  example.  Unfortunately,  many  of  us  have 
been  brought  up  under  a  system  which  made  for  a  cramped 
and  illegible  hand,  so  that  when  called  upon  to  give  instruction 
in  penmanship,  we  must  first  put  our  own  house  in  order. 
But  how  may  the  busy  teacher  acquire  the  desired  style  of 
writing  amidst  the  many  demands  made  upon  his  time  and 
energy?  We  do  not  now  address  those  of  our  readers  who 
have  both  time  and  opportunity  to  attend  business  schools 
which  offer  normal  courses  in  the  subject,  but  rather  those 
who  must  depend  upon  their  own  efforts,  unaided  by  personal 
advice  and  suggestion  from  expert  penmen. 

In  the  first  place,  it  should  be  realized  that  success  is  open 
to  all  who  observe  three  necessary  conditions  :  correct  position, 
proper  models,  and  sufficient  practice.  By  position  is  meant 
the  proper  relation  between  the  body  and  the  writing  surface, 
the  correct  holding  of  the  pen,  the  use  of  good  materials,  and 
the  existence  of  proper  light.  Models  include  copies  to  be 
followed,  together  with  intelligent  practice  and  criticism. 
Finally,  it  is  not  sufficient  that  one  be  able  to  reproduce  the 
copy;  practice  must  be  continued  until  the  desired  writing 
becomes  automatic.  For  the  person  who  sincerely  desires  to 
become  qualified  to  teach  this  subject  much  has  been  done 
by  a  few  enthusiastic  leaders.  Books  containing  copies  to  be 
followed,  together  with  detailed  instructions,  are  now  avail- 
able for  self -instruction,  while  those  who  cannot  come  into 
personal  contact  with  the  masters  can  substitute  the  benefit 
of  correspondence  instruction.  And  by  way  of  suggestion, 
some  communities,  like  New  York  City,  for  example,  have 
organized  classes  to  instruct  pubHc  school  teachers  in  the 
subject. 


132     Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

We  may  now  devote  our  attention  to  methods  of  instruction 
in  penmanship  in  the  commercial  departments  of  our  high 
schools.  Before  we  proceed  any  further,  it  would  be  well 
to  consider  the  pupils  whom  we  are  to  meet.  As  graduates 
of  an  eight-year  elementary  school  course,  the  uninitiated 
would  be  justified  in  assuming  that  no  instruction  in  writing 
would  be  necessary.  Experience,  however,  shows  that  such 
is  not  the  case.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  high  school  teacher 
is  frequently  confronted  by  the  double  task  of  breaking  up  a 
rigid  finger  movement  and  substituting  therefor  a  free-arm 
movement.  In  a  number  of  cases,  the  task  is  almost  a  hope- 
less one,  but  the  success  which  has  attended  enthusiastic 
workers  in  the  high  schools  and  in  the  grades  should  serve 
to  spur  us  on  to  renewed  efTorts.  In  the  schools  of  New 
York  City,  for  example,  a  campaign  has  been  waged  so  that 
elementary  school  teachers  have  become  proficient  writers. 
As  a  result  the  graduates  of  the  grades,  in  many  districts, 
no  longer  require  instruction  in  penmanship  when  they  enter 
high  schools.  But  this  is  not  universally  true,  so  that  the 
commercial  teacher  is  not  yet  free  to  assume  that  his  charges 
require  no  attention  in  writing.  Hence  the  need  of  consider- 
ing methods  of  instruction. 

As  a  general  proposition,  the  dexterity  required  by  manual 
subjects  is  acquired  as  a  result  of  repetition.  A  process  is 
gone  over  repeatedly  and  finally  becomes  automatic.  From 
this  premise,  some  have  concluded  that  the  best  way  of  teach- 
ing penmanship  is  to  concentrate  upon  it,  say,  five  periods  per 
week  for  a  term,  and  then  to  drop  it.  We  know  that  this 
method  gives  admirable  exhibition  results ;  we  know,  too, 
that  just  as  soon  as  the  subject  is  dropped,  many  pupils  suffer 
a  relapse  and  begin  their  wonted  scribbling  again.  The  ad- 
mirable course,   though  not  practical  in  most  institutions, 


Office  Practice  and  Routine  133 

would  be  a  five-period  course  for  about  half  a  term,  then  one 
of  five  half-periods  for  the  rest  of  the  term,  and  a  few  minutes 
per  day  throughout  the  entire  four  years.  But  though  these 
suggestions  are  not  feasible,  the  general  principle  will  serve 
us  still.  Concentrated  class  work  at  the  beginning,  together 
with  home-work  practice,  and  an  insistence  upon  proper  pen- 
manship in  all  written  work  throughout  the  school  years, 
would  give  ideal  results.  And  that  this  is  not  an  impossible 
ideal  is  clear  from  the  parallel  fact  that  many  of  our  institu- 
tions have  succeeded  in  establishing  good  English,  not  only 
in  the  language  rooms,  but  as  a  necessity  in  all  recitations. 

It  is  still  necessary  to  consider  how  to  present  the  subject 
of  penmanship  as  a  class  topic.  The  first  essential  is  to  break 
up  the  cramped  style  too  frequently  characteristic  of  the 
grammar  school  boy  and  girl.  For  this  purpose  large  ovals, 
loops,  and  straight-Hne  exercises  have  proved  themselves 
most  serviceable.  Exercises  involving  ovals  and  straight 
Unes,  gradually  decreasing  in  size,  give  control.  The  simple 
strokes  and  letters  should  precede  the  more  complex.  Such 
stems  should  be  employed  which,  in  themselves  or  by  a  slight 
modification,  may  be  used  for  a  number  of  letters.  The 
sequence  of  exercises  in  the  copy  books  may  be  followed  as 
the  principles  just  enunciated  have  been,  in  a  measure, 
observed,  but  the  teacher  should  feel  free  to  change  the  order 
of  presentation  whenever,  because  of  his  own  training  or 
through  habit,  he  feels  a  later  copy  to  be  easier  or  simpler  than 
an  earlier  one. 

Home  work  should  be  assigned,  and  both  sides  of  a  foolscap 
sheet  will  be  about  sufi&cient  in  amount.  For  particularly 
weak  pupils,  extra  work  may  be  necessary.  The  danger 
should  be  avoided  of  shghting  this  subject.  Impress  upon  the 
pupils  that  most  positions  are  secured  through  the  medium  of 


134     Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

a  written  application,  and  that  unless  their  writing  is  of  a 
grade  sufficiently  good  to  a  rest  attention,  their  letters  may 
not  even  be  read.  A  marking  scheme  whereby  each  pupil  is 
given  credit  for  each  letter  or  figure  as  soon  as  acceptable,  and 
where  extra  drill  is  required  upon  work  not  satisfactory,  has 
often  proved  helpful.  Original  exercises  involving  ovals  and 
other  simple  strokes  help  to  maintain  interest  in  an  otherwise 
dry  subject.  Many  beautiful  ornamental  pieces,  flowers, 
vases,  and  animals  are  thus  produced. 

Lawyers  are  famihar  with  the  poor  observation  of  the  ordi- 
nary witness  and  make  the  most  of  such  deficiencies  during 
cross-examination.  Research  in  psychological  laboratories 
has  impressed  upon  the  teacher  the  fact  that  it  is  not  suffi- 
cient to  place  before  a  pupil  a  model  and  expect  perfect 
reproduction.  The  teacher  of  penmanship  employs  his  knowl- 
edge of  psychology  to  the  end  that  the  slight  differences  be- 
tween good  letters  and  poor  ones  be  thoroughly  appreciated 
by  his  class.  Thus,  a  certain  letter  is  placed  on  the  board  and 
members  of  the  section  are  encouraged  to  criticise  it.  They 
are  then  asked  to  offer  suggestions  toward  improving  it,  and 
also  hints  helpful  in  avoiding  bad  work.  They  then  practice 
on  the  exercise  in  question,  and  when  stopped,  are  asked  to 
discover  certain  definite  faults  in  their  own  work  which  they 
may  correct  by  going  over  the  poor  letters  or  words.  Finally, 
individual  help  should  be  extended  by  the  teacher,  who  points 
out  faults  and  writes  models  for  the  pupils  to  follow. 

In  concluding  these  brief  remarks,  let  us  decide  what  is  the 
proper  aim  of  this  course.  Engraving  and  diploma  lettering 
is  not  the  ideal  aimed  at.  A  legible,  neat  hand,  quickly  and 
easily  executed,  is  all-sufficient.  This  is  often  accomplished 
after  a  few  months'  conscientious  work,  but  the  complaint 
still  obtains  that  the  upper-grade  students  and   the  grad- 


Office  Practice  and  Routine  135 

uates  produce  miserable  hieroglyphics.  So  why  this  relapse  ? 
Because  our  school  work  is  not  a  unit.  Our  instructors  are 
specialists,  each  of  whom  is  intent  upon  his  own  particular 
subject.  It  ought  to  be  possible  to  unify  the  entire  work  so 
that  each  instructor  would  consciously  direct  his  attention 
against  faults  even  when  not  directly  concerned  with  his  own 
recitation.  Just  as  we  have  succeeded  in  arousing  a  demand 
for  better  English,  so  we  may  hope  that  the  good  penmanship 
which  has  been  acquired  in  the  early  part  of  the  course  shall 
attain  a  true  fruit-bearing  stage  and  remain  as  a  permanent 
asset. 

(b)  Business  Forms.  —  It  is  customary  to  teach  the  com- 
moner business  papers  in  connection  with  the  course  in 
penmanship.  The  reasons  for  so  including  it  are  that  the 
forms  make  the  penmanship  more  interesting  and  that  they 
are  simple  enough  for  treatment  during  the  first  year.  More- 
over, parents  demand  instruction  in  "  practical  subjects," 
like  bookkeeping,  at  once,  and  it  has  been  found  that  the 
treatment  of  business  forms  is  interpreted  as  instruction  in 
bookkeeping,  as  in  a  certain  sense  it  is,  so  that  the  wishes  of 
the  taxpayers  are  honored  without  forcing  the  youth  too  fast. 
Bookkeeping  is  not  appreciated  by  the  immature,  while  many 
of  the  commercial  papers  offer  no  difficulty.  Furthermore, 
even  if  the  pupil  leaves  school  during  the  first  year,  a  knowl- 
edge of  forms  will  often  prove  beneficial,  which  is  an  added 
reason  for  offering  it  during  the  freshman  year. 

What  forms  should  be  included  is  the  first  question  that 
confronts  us.  Obviously  enough,  some  are  too  difficult, 
others  are  quite  useless  except  in  connection  with  other  sub- 
jects such  as  bookkeeping  or  commercial  law,  while  a  number 
are  sufi&ciently  easy  and  useful  to  make  them  suitable  for  the 
purposes  of  the  first  year's  course.     Among  the  latter  are 


136    Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

checks,  promissory  notes,  invoices,  monthly  statements,  de- 
posit sHps,  orders,  receipts,  and  the  filling  out  of  "a  few  blanks 
demanded  by  the  industry  of  the  community.  Though  most 
of  the  papers  to  be  handled  contain  printed  portions,  it  is 
well  for  both  pedagogic  and  economic  reasons  to  have  the 
class  write  out  the  entire  forms.  It  is  also  a  good  policy  to 
give  the  class  practice  in  filling  out  forms,  as  this  latter  exer- 
cise is  what  they  will  be  called  upon  to  do  in  actual  Hfe. 

Most  of  our  boys  and  girls  who  leave  during  the  first  high 
school  year,  unless  they  go  to  a  private  institute  for  instruc- 
tion in  commercial  subjects,  find  their  way  into  some  office 
or  shop.  It  is  safe  to  assume  that  one  of  the  earhest  tasks 
assigned  them  is  in  connection  with  invoicing,  so  we  shall 
take  for  first  treatment  the  teaching  of  the  bill  or  invoice. 
Prepare  them  for  the  form  by  getting  them  to  see  that  their 
parents  do  not  ordinarily  pay  for  purchases  from  the  depart- 
ment store  until  a  "  bill  has  been  rendered."  "  Why  is  this 
so?  "  will  surely  eUcit  that  it  is  desirable  to  know  what  the 
bill  is  for  and  the  price.  Further  questioning  will  bring  out 
the  need  of  a  date,  name  of  buyer  and  seller,  terms,  and  sys- 
tematic arrangement  of  items.  Continued  practice  will  be 
necessary  in  order  to  make  their  understanding  at  all  satis- 
factory, but  one  should  not  be  surprised  to  find  this  so  when  it 
is  reaUzed  that  the  form  is  quite  complex,  and  that  they  have 
had  no  real  world  experience.  Drill  upon  a  single  form  should 
be  continued,  and  variations  should  not  be  introduced,  until 
the  type  has  been  thoroughly  mastered.  It  is  almost  needless 
to  suggest  that  every  bill  should  be  regarded  as  an  exercise  in 
penmanship,  but  it  is  more  helpful  to  point  out  that  correla- 
tion with  the  work  in  commercial  arithmetic  might  be  secured 
by  having  the  arithmetical  operations  performed  during  the 
mathematics  period.     Some  invoices  are  so  complicated  as 


Ofice  Practice  and  Routine  137 

to  make  it  advisable  that  they  be  relegated  to  a  late  part  of 
the  course,  and  this  apparent  lack  of  continuity  will  be  more 
than  compensated  for  by  the  fact  that  interest  will  be  main- 
tained by  the  introduction  of  different  forms,  which  would 
not  be  the  case  were  all  the  invoices  to  be  disposed  of  as  a 
connected  series  of  lessons. 

Monthly  statements  are  quite  as  simple  as  invoices,  but  in 
order  to  prepare  them  some  knowledge  of  personal  accounts 
must  be  assumed.  It  is  sufficient  for  the  present  purpose  that 
the  student  understand  that  the  debit  or  left-hand  side  repre- 
sents the  sales,  while  the  other  side  contains  the  payments  and 
returns.  Exercises  on  these  statements  should  include  their 
proper  interpretation  as  well  as  their  making,  and  also  an 
understanding  of  their  purpose  in  business.  Students  should 
bill  goods  to  their  classmates  and  later  send  monthly  state- 
ments. These  statements  should  be  "  checked  up,"  and  in 
the  more  advanced  work,  when  creditors'  accounts  have  been 
presented,  they  should  be  compared  with  corresponding  ledger 
accounts. 

The  subject  of  checks,  together  with  its  full  connotation, 
forms  one  of  the  most  interesting  series  of  lessons  in  the 
course.  It  involves  the  opening  of  a  bank  account,  the  keep- 
ing of  the  check-book,  the  reconciliation  of  check-book  bal- 
ance with  bank  balance,  and  some  elementary  law  connected 
with  checks.  We  consider  it  necessary  that  the  student  be 
impressed  with  the  need  of  fiUing  out  the  stub  first,  so  as  to 
avoid  "  overdrawing."  The  difference  between  bearer  checks 
and  checks  made  to  order  of  payee  should  be  explained  and 
illustrated.  The  responsibihty  of  the  bank  for  paying  forged 
checks  and  for  paying  "  raised  "  checks  ought  not  to  be  neg- 
lected, but  the  necessity  of  so  writing  the  amount  of  the  check 
as  not  to  encourage  alteration  should  also  be  discussed.     The 


138    Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

simpler  indorsements,  such  as  the  blank,  the  full,  and  the  one 
for  deposit  only,  form  a  natural  part  of  the  course.  Besides 
the  law  already  involved,  something  might  be  said  regarding 
the  need  of  depositing  or  presenting  the  check  within  a  rea- 
sonable period  of  time.  And  in  conclusion,  it  would  be  well 
briefly  to  treat  of  the  matters  connected  with  certified  checks. 

Certain  researches  of  one  of  the  authors  ^  has  revealed  the 
fact  that  the  business  community  is  not  employing  promis- 
sory notes  in  settlement  of  account  as  a  general  practice.  But 
the  time  is  not  yet  ripe  to  discard  these  papers  from  the  course 
under  review.  Just  as  in  the  case  of  checks,  the  filling  out  of 
the  form  and  the  relation  between  the  maker  and  payee  will 
have  to  be  pointed  out.  The  law  regarding  the  date  of  pay- 
ment, the  certainty  of  amount,  and  the  other  requisites,  after 
discussion,  might  be  committed  to  memory  in  the  form  given 
in  some  of  the  text-books  on  commercial  law.  Single-name 
paper,  as  employed  for  raising  funds  at  one's  own  bank  or  from 
note  brokers,  might  be  briefly  discussed  with  profit. 

What  has  just  been  said  regarding  the  decreased  use  of  prom- 
issory notes  is  even  more  apphcable  to  the  drafts  of  our  com- 
mercial arithmetics  and  of  our  bookkeeping  texts.  Though 
three-party  drafts  are  famihar  instruments  to  continental 
Europe,  very  few,  comparatively  speaking,  have  been  em- 
ployed in  the  domestic  commerce  of  the  United  States  since 
the  Civil  War.  A  prominent  bank  president  is  authority  for 
the  statement  that  the  draft  as  illustrated  in  most  of  our  cur- 
rent commercial  texts  presupposes  a  set  of  business  relations 
between  business  men  in  separated  sections  of  the  country 
hardly  practicable.  But  though  time  drafts  are  no  longer 
familiar,  sight  drafts  to  the  order  of  a  bank  are  becoming  more 

1  The  Development  of  Mercantile  Instruments  of  Credit  in  the  United  States, 
J.  J.  Klein. 


Office  Practice  and  Routine  139 

and  more  common  as  an  effective  means  of  collecting  due 
accounts.  Such  papers  should  be  freely  discussed  and  set 
for  class  exercise.  For  those  who  still  insist  upon  presenting 
the  obsolete  time  draft,  the  economy  effected  by  avoiding 
transmission  of  funds,  together  with  the  relationship  between 
the  parties  before  and  after  acceptance,  and  before  and  after 
payment,  should  receive  attention.  And  for  both  forms,  be- 
sides the  corresponding  matters  which  also  affect  notes  and 
checks,  the  subject  of  protest  should  be  touched  upon. 

Every  boy  and  every  girl  who  reaches  the  high  school  might 
be  assumed  to  possess  knowledge  sufficient  for  the  purpose  of 
making  out  an  ordinary  receipt.  Our  experience  justifies 
the  statement  that  such  is  not  the  case,  however.  It  is  thus 
necessary  to  set  drills  on  receipts  in  general  and  when  issued 
for  a  specific  purpose.  Among  the  latter  it  would  be  well  to 
include  those  given  for  payment  of  rent,  for  deposit  on  a  pur- 
chase, and  for  part  or  in  full  payment  of  a  particular  invoice. 
Somewhere  in  the  course,  also,  though  often  taught  as  a  part 
of  the  so-called  commercial  English,  room  should  be  found 
for  orders,  both  by  mail  and  when  the  goods  called  for  are  to 
be  delivered  to  bearer  or  to  some  other  designated  person. 

We  caimot  leave  this  topic  without  some  word  regarding 
the  more  complicated  and  though  very  important,  still  less 
common,  business  forms.  Among  these  might  be  mentioned 
the  papers  employed  in  selling,  leasing,  or  renting  of  real 
property,  in  importing  and  exporting  merchandise,  in  shipping 
by  land  or  by  sea,  and  in  the  various  special  lines,  most  of 
which  are  represented  in  our  larger  cities.  It  must  be  clear 
that  it  would  be  impossible  to  teach  all  of  these  forms  with 
any  reasonable  degree  of  thoroughness  within  the  period  at 
our  command,  that  for  some  of  them  our  first-year  pupils  are 
too  immature,  and  finally,  that  pupils  who  remain  with  us 


I40     Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

for  only  a  single  term  or  two  will  hardly  ever  be  called  upon 
to  handle  such  papers.  For  all  of  these  reasons,  then,  we 
do  not  favor  an  attempt  to  cover  all  of  them.  Moreover, 
some  forms,  such  as  those  used  in  making  postal,  telegraph, 
and  express  remittances  and  others,  may  be  and  are  explained 
during  the  course  in  commercial  arithmetic,  while  most  of 
the  others  are  more  satisfactorily  handled  in  the  commercial 
law  course  or  in  the  technique  of  commerce. 

Though  our  stand  regarding  these  matters  is  definite,  we 
nevertheless  recognize  the  contentions  of  those  who  argue  in 
favor  of  a  wider  and  more  general  course  rather  than  a  narrower 
one.  But  we  answer  that  it  appears  much  better  to  us  that 
a  few  items  of  prime  importance  be  thoroughly  mastered, 
rather  than  that  a  great  variety  be  presented  but  not  actually 
learned.  Success  in  the  working  out  of  this  policy  requires 
continuous  drill  and  close  application.  Thoroughness  is  es- 
sential, for  a  check  unsigned  or  a  note  undated  or  a  draft  not 
containing  the  name  of  the  drawee  may  all  lead  to  incon- 
venience or  even  to  trouble.  And  yet,  though  we  do  favor 
this  thoroughness,  we  nevertheless  regard  it  as  advisable 
that  somewhere  during  the  course,  especially  on  behalf  of 
those  pupils  who  are  not  to  remain  with  us  long  enough  to 
graduate,  the  students  be  made  to  reahze  that  other  forms  are 
required  in  business,  and  if  they  should  ever  be  called  upon 
to  employ  them,  they  can  obtain  the  requisite  knowledge  by 
going  to  certain  sources.  Indeed,  this  abihty  to  help  one's  self 
is  one  of  the  richest  heritages  which  education  holds  out  to 
the  student. 

In  the  chapter  on  bookkeeping,  it  was  promised  that  the 
business  forms  employed  by  the  so-called  business  practice 
or  budget  systems  would  be  treated  of  in  the  present  connec- 
tion.    We  propose  to  redeem  this  promise  by  way  of  conclud- 


Office  Practice  and  Routine  141 

ing  this  topic.  An  analysis  of  the  problem  discloses  that  we 
are  confronted  with  a  simple  problem  of  correlation  —  the 
close  connection  between  business  papers  and  the  transactions 
they  give  birth  to.  A  just  criticism  of  many  budget  sets  in 
bookkeeping  is  that  too  much  is  attempted  at  once  ;  a  compli- 
cated business  form  and  a  new  bookkeeping  transaction  are 
introduced  simultaneously.  The  teaching  of  the  form,  if 
thoroughly  done,  takes  up  so  much  time  and  so  beclouds  the 
bookkeeping  issue,  that  often  the  accounting  feature  is  almost 
entirely  lost  sight  of.  Then,  again,  papers,  such  as  invoices, 
notes,  and  others,  occur  so  frequently  that  they  do  not  serve 
any  other  purpose  than  unduly  to  lengthen  the  course.  Our 
criticism  is  thus  divisible  into  two  parts,  —  the  first  deals  with 
the  introduction  of  complicated  papers  during  a  bookkeeping 
exercise,  the  other  with  the  padding  process. 

Constructively,  we  would  advocate  that  budget  sets  be  not 
introduced  until  much  later  in  the  bookkeeping  course  than  is 
the  present  vogue.  When  they  are  introduced,  they  would 
serve  their  proper  ends  if  much  curtailed  both  individually  and 
in  volume ;  that  is,  if  single  papers  were  less  lengthy,  and  if 
there  were  fewer  repetitions  of  similar  forms.  In  other  words, 
we  favor  really  shorter  sets.  And  along  these  same  lines, 
we  should  very  much  like  to  see  fewer  sets  involving  the  actual 
handling  of  business  forms,  thus  leaving  more  time  for  book- 
keeping and  accounting  per  se.  Finally,  just  one  other  sug- 
gestion, which  we  regret  cannot  be  carried  oat  in  many  of  our 
institutions.  Inasmuch  as  it  is  well  to  treat  business  forms 
as  distinct  from  bookkeeping,  the  best  sort  of  correlation  and 
efficiency  would  be  consummated  were  it  possible  to  employ 
the  papers  executed  during  the  first  year's  work  in  the  book- 
keepmg  of  the  second  year.  But  though  this  is  an  ideal  to  be 
striven  for,  at  least  a  part  of  it  might  be  realized  were  the 


142     Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

knowledge  gained  to  be  so  employed  as  to  save  some  time  in 
bookkeeping  by  decreasing  the  proportion  now  usually  allotted 
to  the  making  out  of  forms  and  papers  supposedly  already 
mastered. 

(c)  Office  Routine.  —  Educators  are"  coming  more  and  more 
to  recognize  that  our  schools  and  institutions  are  not  alone 
for  those  who  are  fortunate  enough  to  be  able  to  complete  the 
full  course  as  planned,  but  also  for  those  who  drop  out  by  the 
wayside.  The  recognition  of  this  fact,  together  with  the 
influence  of  the  German  system  of  education  which  aims  to 
train  for  life  work,  has  led  some  educational  leaders  to  strive 
after  a  curriculum  such  that  while  each  term's  work  is  in  a  way 
a  preparation  for  the  next,  yet  each  is  a  unit  in  itself  and 
useful  even  without  the  supplemental  work  of  the  higher 
grades.  The  practical  application  of  this  ideal  is  yet  to  be 
attained,  but  the  mere  fact  that  it  is  regarded  as  a  desirable 
end  must  hclj)  the  programme  maker.  A  corollary  of  the  main 
thesis  as  applied  to  commercial  high  schools  would  be  that  the 
first  year  should  be  a  foundation  for  the  second,  and  at  the 
same  time  be  fruit-bearing  itself.  But  the  boy  or  girl  who  must 
leave  us  after  a  single  year  cannot  hope  to  be  prepared  for  the 
duties  of  the  bookkeeper  or  the  stenographer.  He  or  she 
should,  however,  be  able  better  to  earn  a  livelihood  because 
of  this  year's  study.  A  definite  training  in  the  duties  of  the 
office  boy  or  girl  would  meet  the  twofold  requirements  of 
modern  education  that  each  unit  of  work  be  both  complete 
and  preparatory. 

The  course  of  study  for  the  first  year  is  so  heavy  as  not 
to  permit  the  inclusion  of  a  special  course  in  training  for  office 
duties.  But  somewhere,  in  connection  with  penmanship  and 
business  forms,  or  with  commercial  arithmetic  or  with  English, 
or  combined  with  two  or  more  of  these  subjects,  a  place  for 


Office  Practice  and  Routine  143 

the  work  could  be  found.  Here  the  filing  of  letters  and  other 
papers,  the  caring  for  incoming  and  outgoing  mail,  the  receiv- 
ing of  callers,  the  answering  of  telephone  calls,  and  the  miscel- 
laneous assistance  one  may  be  called  upon  to  render  to  superiors, 
should  receive  attention.  It  is  obvious  that,  except  in  com- 
munities where  there  is  a  single  industry,  no  attempt  can  be 
made  to  train  for  the  work  in  a  particular  oflSce.  In  the  larger 
centres  the  duties  of  the  office  boy  in  a  stock  broker's  office 
differ  considerably  in  detail  from  those  in  a  manufacturing 
office,  say,  as  indeed  they  differ  somewhat  between  two 
offices  of  concerns  in  similar  lines,  so  that  our  pubhc  schools 
must  content  themselves  with  offering  instructions  of  a  general 
nature.  Still,  as  pointed  out  in  the  final  chapter,  a  real 
bridging  of  the  gap  between  school  and  office  is  possible  and 
feasible. 

Many  people  call  at  an  office  during  the  course  of  the  day. 
The  office  boy  very  often  is  the  first  one  to  greet  the  caller. 
The  reader  must  be  familiar  with  some  of  the  many  stories 
told  of  the  brazenness,  stupidity,  and  lack  of  manners  of 
some  boys  in  receiving  certain  important  visitors.  A  few  such 
tales  serve  as  an  admirable  introduction  to  the  need  of  cour- 
tesy and  politeness.  The  impUcit  and  explicit  obedience  of 
orders  regarding  the  wishes  of  superiors  to  receive  certain 
people,  without  violating  confidence  reposed,  needs  emphasis. 
The  keeping  of  the  waiting-room  neat  often  rests  upon  the 
beginner,  so  that  it  is  quite  apropos  to  touch  upon  this  sub- 
ject in  the  present  connection. 

There  are  many  kinds  of  filing  systems,  but  the  principles 
embodied  in  the  old  alphabetical  letter  file  persist.  It  is 
sufficient  for  the  purposes  of  the  beginners'  class  that  they 
understand  alphabetical  and  numerical  fifing  in  its  simpler 
forms,  while  the  more  complicated  kinds  should  be  reserved 


144     Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

for  treatment  in  connection  with  the  more  advanced  work  of 
the  course.  The  students  should  be  shown  how  to  arrange 
the  filing  matter  so  as  to  avoid  the  necessity  of  turning  sections 
back  and  forth.  Here,  too,  the  indicating  on  the  outside 
of  the  folded  matter  of  the  nature  of  the  contents  might  be 
alluded  to.  Precis  writing,  as  practised  in  the  English  room, 
would  serve  in  good  stead  here.  In  many  cases,  the  name 
of  the  parties  concerned,  together  with  the  date,  is  sufficient, 
so  that  the  important  item  consists  in  the  proper  placing  of 
such  information,  and  the  students  will  in  many  instances  be 
able  to  suggest  the  best  arrangement.  In  other  cases,  folding 
of  the  paper  in  such  a  way  as  clearly  to  indicate  the  desired 
information  may  be  both  desirable  and  feasible. 

Inasmuch  as  the  mail  is  often  assorted  previous  to  distribu- 
tion among  departments,  it  is  well  that  our  students  devote 
some  attention  to  this  matter.  The  most  elementary  kind  of 
separation  consists  of  a  division  based  upon  the  information 
contained  on  the  envelope.  This  is  often  supplemented  by 
having  the  mail  matter  opened,  so  that  it  becomes  necessary 
to  discuss  the  use  of  a  paper  cutter  without  injuring  the  con- 
tents of  the  envelope.  In  more  advanced  classes,  it  may  be 
desirable  to  open  the  envelopes  and  distribute  the  mail  after 
reading  it.  At  first  each  letter  should  deal  with  a  single 
department,  but  later  compHcations  might  be  introduced  by 
having  the  communications  refer  to  two  or  more  departments. 
In  this  latter  connection  the  use  of  marginal  notations  or 
stamped  instructions  to  pass  the  matter  along  could  be 
introduced. 

But  while  the  matter  of  receiving  the  mail  is  as  often  as  not 
cared  for  by  a  superior  employee,  the  beginner  is  almost 
invariably  called  upon  to  dispose  of  the  outgoing  cor- 
respondence.    Among   the  items   to  be  considered  in   this 


Office  Practice  and  Routine  i45 

connection  are  the  stamping  and  sealing  of  envelopes,  the 
making  sure  that  the  letters  have  been  properly  signed, 
and  that  where  enclosures  are  called  for  they  have  not  been 
omitted,  the  folding  of  the  letter  heads,  and,  sometimes,  the 
addressing  of  envelopes  to  correspond  with  the  salutation  on 
the  communication.  Here  the  need  of  care  to  avoid  con- 
fusing mail  had  better  be  emphasized.  The  use  of  sealing 
and  stamping  devices  might  be  illustrated  if  the  opportunity 

is  afforded. 

At  this  point  the  use  of  office  furnishings  for  the  purpose 
of  giving  the  pupils  practice  might  be  profitably  discussed. 
If  funds  are  available,  it  is  undoubtedly  good  poUcy  to  acquire 
as  complete  a  set  of  modern  appliances  as  possible.  For  those 
institutions  that  cannot  aim  at  completeness  in  this  matter, 
the  following,  in  the  order  given,  is  suggested  :  a  fifing  cabinet, 
a  letter  copying  press  or  a  rotary  copying  press,  an  envelope 
sealer,  and  an  automatic  addresser.  Minor  furnishings  and 
variations  need  not  be  specifically  indicated.  In  the  absence 
of  certain  items,  graphic  illustrations  with  clear  explanations, 
especially  if  in  connection  with  an  opportunity  to  inspect  the 
object  under  discussion  in  actual  use  in  some  office,  are  admi- 
rable substitutes  for  personal  experience. 

The  beginner  must  be  impressed  with  the  fact  that  any  posi- 
tion he  secures  is  a  stepping  stone  to  higher  ones.  In  order 
to  prepare  himself  for  greater  service,  and  to  merit  the  reward 
of  promotion,  it  is  essential  that  he  give  the  best  that  there 
is  in  him.  He  should  be  willing  and  anxious  to  assist  others, 
for  only  by  so  doing  wifi  he  be  able  to  fill  higher  places  when 
called  upon.  He  must  be  punctual,  industrious,  obedient,  and 
courteous,  so  as  to  attract  attention  to  his  virtues.  He  must 
also  be  ambitious,  and  if  he  has  had  to  leave  his  school  educa- 
tion prematurely,  he  should  strive  unceasingly  to  improve 


146     Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

himself  by  reading  books  dealing  with  his  work,  by  attending 
evening  classes  or  enrolling  in  correspondence  schools. 

Other  items  connected  with  the  conduct  of  an  ofhce  can  best 
be  treated  in  the  bookkeeping,  stenography,  and  typewriting 
classes.  Much  good  mental  discipline  is  afforded  by  various 
problems  which  arise  in  connection  with  the  managing  of  an 
ofl&ce.  Here  all  the  subjects  of  the  commercial  course  are 
called  into  play,  so  that  office  routine  involves  in  a  large 
measure  the  science  of  business.  As  a  simple  example, 
what  should  you  do  if  you  learned  that  a  certain  party  to  whom 
you  had  just  shipped  goods  was  a  probable  bankrupt?  Or 
suppose  a  stranger  wished  to  open  an  account  with  you,  what 
action  should  be  taken?  Or,  as  a  final  example,  how  would 
you  decide  whether  or  not  to  accept  an  order  for  the  first  time 
from  a  foreign  country,  and  if  you  did  accept,  when  and  how 
would  you  secure  shipping  instructions?  Questions  such  as 
these  offer  great  opportunity  for  the  development  of  initia- 
tive on  the  part  of  our  pupils,  and  at  the  same  time  supply 
them  with  what  is  much  more  useful  than  information  and 
facts,  namely,  the  abihty  to  acquire  fight  for  themselves. 

SUMMARY 

This  chapter  concerns  itself  with  the  subjects  of  penman- 
ship, business  forms,  and  office  routine.  It  was  pointed  out 
that  despite  the  fact  that  educators  have  come  to  reafize  the 
necessity  for  instruction  in  free-arm,  muscular-movement 
writing  during  the  eight  years  of  the  elementary  school  course, 
sufl&cient  progress  has  not  been  made  to  obviate  the  necessity 
of  further  attention  during  the  high  school  course.  As  the 
tests  of  good  penmanship  are  legibiHty,  speed,  and  ease  of  exe- 
cution, these  characteristics  determine  the  methods  to  be 
employed  by  the  teacher  of  penmanship.     One  basic  factor 


Office  Practice  and  Routine  147 

in  all  habit-forming  subjects,  i.e.,  initial  impulse,  cannot  be 
employed,  because  the  task  is  rather  one  of  unlearning  than 
of  acquiring  new  knowledge  or  new  power.  Constant  prac- 
tice, based  upon  correct  models,  and  subject  to  careful  and 
intelligent  supervision,  is  essential  to  success.  It  is  not  suffi- 
cient that  the  penmanship  teacher  alone  insist  upon  correct 
posture,  etc.,  but  the  teachers  of  all  the  other  subjects  in  the 
high  school  course  should  be  encouraged  to  exact  high-grade 
written  work,  so  that  good  penmanship  shall  become  general. 

One  difficulty  that  confronts  the  administrator  who  is  de- 
sirous to  teach  good  penmanship  is  that  many  teachers  are 
themselves  poor  penmen.  But  this  fact  need  not  handicap 
the  teaching  corps  indejQjiitely,  because  every  teacher  may 
become  proficient  in  muscular-movement  writing  by  conscien- 
tious and  persistent  effort. 

The  commoner  business  forms  should  be  presented  during 
the  first  year  of  the  high  school  course.  The  reason  for  this 
statement  is  found  not  alone  in  the  fact  that  the  subject  is 
sufficiently  easy  and  certainly  worth  while,  but  also  because  the 
taxpayers  demand  early  instruction  in  practical  subjects  such 
as  bookkeeping ;  and  business  forms,  when  properly  taught, 
"  appears  "  to  be  bookkeeping.  Though  it  is  true  that  this 
step  is  somewhat  of  a  compromise,  this  is  only  apparently  so, 
as  no  harm  has  been  done,  and  the  students  feel  that  they 
are  receiving  instruction  in  the  subjects  which  they  beHeve 
are  most  useful. 

The  more  difficult  business  forms  should  not  be  presented 
until  much  later  in  the  course,  and  then  in  connection  with 
bookkeeping  and  business  law.  It  is  a  mistake  to  attempt 
to  teach  all  business  forms  at  once,  as  many  of  them  cannot 
be  comprehended  by  the  students  with  their  apperceptive 
basis  at  the  time  when  they  enter  high  school.     Later  on,  as 


148     Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

their  experience  broadens,  they  are  in  a  position  to  benefit 
by  the  advanced  work. 

Another  benefit  which  accrues  as  a  result  of  presenting 
business  forms  during  the  early  part  of  the  course  is  that  much 
detail  work  in  connection  with  the  so-called  budget  system  of 
bookkeeping  may  profitably  be  curtailed.  As  a  matter  of 
fact,  one  of  the  main  objections  to  the  budget  system  is  that 
the  volume  of  prehminary  work  required,  in  the  preparing  of 
forms  and  handling  of  papers,  is  so  great  as  to  minimize  the 
real  instruction  in  bookkeeping.  Moreover,  the  handling  of 
these  papers,  in  connection  with  bookkeeping,  tends  to  distract 
the  attention  from  bookkeeping  to  the  business  forms,  and 
frequently  leads  to  the  making  of  entries  not  fully  understood. 

As  educators  have  come  to  realize  that  the  high  schools 
should  be  thoroughly  democratic,  they  have  come  to  demand 
that  every  term  of  the  course  shall  be  complete  and  fruit- 
bearing,  so  that  the  boy  or  girl  who  cannot  afford  to  graduate 
shall  nevertheless  be  benefited  by  studying  for  a  short  while. 
This  does  not  mean  that  the  entire  course  is  not  a  natural 
progression,  so  that  each  year's  work  is  a  preparation  for  the 
next,  but  rather  that  while  each  term  shall  lead  to  the  succeed- 
ing term,  nevertheless  each  year  shall  be  self-sufficient  and 
worth  while.  As  a  corollary,  it  is  advocated  that  office 
duties  shall  be  a  subject  of  instruction  during  the  first  year, 
not  as  a  special  course,  but  correlated  with  some  other  subject. 
In  this  connection  it  is  necessary  to  point  out  that  certain 
office  appliances  must  be  secured.  Finally,  much  of  the  work 
in  connection  with  office  routine  and  practice  belongs  to  the 
course  in  stenography  and  typewriting,  and  should  there 
receive  proper  attention. 


Office  Practice  and  Routine  149 

EXERCISES 
GROUP  ONE 

1.  Why  should  penmanship  be  taught  in  the  high  school  ? 

2.  Explain  your  method  of  securing  good  results  in  penmanship. 

3.  What  steps  would  you  take  to  improve  the  penmanship  of  the 
teachers  of  your  school  ? 

4.  Explain  fully  the  value  of  penmanship  aside  from  its  practical 
aspect. 

5.  Should  business  forms  be  taught  as  a  separate  subject  or  in  relation 
to  other  subjects  ?     Discuss  fully. 

6.  Name  three  common  forms  suitable  for  first  year's  work,  and  three 
common  forms  too  difficult  for  the  work  of  beginners. 

7.  How  may  instruction  in  business  forms  be  interpreted  as  element- 
ary bookkeeping  ? 

8.  Describe  the  budget  system  of  bookkeeping,  and  discuss  its  place 
and  value  in  the  modern  commercial  school. 

9.  Explain  the  method  of  teaching  filing  in  a  high  school. 

10.   Of  what  value  is  the  subject  of  ofiice  routine  to  students  who 
remain  in  high  school  only  six  months  ? 

GROUP  TWO 

1.  What  per  cent  of  pupils  who  enter  high  school  in  your  city  require 
specific  instruction  in  penmanship  ?  Analyze  the  situation  and  develop 
a  plan  whereby  the  various  groups  are  offered  such  work  in  this  subject 
during  the  first  year  as  will  benefit  them  most. 

2.  Prepare  a  course  in  filing  for  a  high  school  consisting  of  three 
hundred  commercial  pupils.  Assume  that  $200  has  been  placed  at  your 
disposal,  and  that  you  will  have  the  services  of  one  teacher  for  six  hours 
per  week. 

3.  Develop  a  system  of  correlation  between  the  various  subjects 
in  the  curriculum  of  your  school,  so  that  there  will  be  no  need  of  offering 
business  practice  as  a  separate  course. 

4.  Criticise  the  course  of  study  of  your  high  school,  in  its  relation  to 
the  subject-matter  of  this  chapter,  and  offer  specific  constructive  sug- 
gestions. 

5.  What  provision  would  you  make  to  keep  the  instruction  of  the 
subjects  discussed  in  this  chapter  up  to  date  ? 


150     Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 

DiCKSEE  AND  Blain,  Office   Organization  and  Management.      London, 

Pitman  &  Sons,  1906. 
Healy,  Horace  G.,  System  of  Free-arm  Movement  Writing.     New  York, 

American  Book  Co.,  191 2. 
Miner,  G.  W.,  Bookkeeping.     New  York,  Ginn  &  Co.,  191 2. 
Montgomery,  J.  L.,  Modern  Bookkeeping  and  Business  Practice.     New 

York,  C.  E.  Merrill  Co.,  1906. 
Neal  and  Cragin,  Modern  Illustrative  Bookkeeping.     New  York,  Amer. 

Book  Co.,  1911. 
Palmer,  A.  N.,  Method  of  Business  Wriling.     New  York,  Rode  &  Brand, 

1913- 
Schulze,  J.  W.,  The  American  Office.      New  York,  Key  Pub.  Co.,  1913. 
Teller  and   Brown,   Modern   Business    Methods.      Chicago,    Rand, 

McNally  &  Co,  191 2. 
Thompson,  M.  E.,  Psychology  and  Pedagogy  of  Writing.     Baltimore, 

Warwick,  191 1. 


CHAPTER  VI 

Bookkeeping 

pedagogic  principles 

It  has  become  quite  the  fashion  for  writers  of  bookkeeping 
texts  to  refer  to  the  fact  that  though  four  hundred  years  and 
more  have  passed  since  Fra  Paciolo's  work,  the  basic  principles 
of  the  subject  have  undergone  no  change.  Similar  statements 
might  be  made  of  mathematics,  languages,  and  other  branches 
of  knowledge.  It  is  simply  another  version  of  the  time- 
honored  truth  that  though  principles  are  permanent,  appU- 
cations  are  transient.  So  it  is  that  just  as  in  the  case  of  those 
sciences  and  arts  which  constitute  the  subject-matter  of  our 
school  and  college  curricula,  experience  has  furnished  in  at 
least  a  few  of  the  topics  grouped  under  the  title  Commercial 
Branches  a  coordinated  mass  of  knowledge  to  which  peda- 
gogic devices  have  been  applied.  This  chapter  deals  with 
the  appHcation  of  such  doctrines  to  bookkeeping  alone. 

Many  of  our  institutions,  responding  to  the  ever  increasing 
demand  for  business  education,  are  now  offering  courses  in 
bookkeeping.  Here,  as  also  in  schools  where  complete  com- 
mercial instruction  and  training  is  offered,  this  topic  is  regarded 
as  a  major  subject  in  the  course.  Sound  judgment  underlies 
this  view,  though  it  is  often  observed  that  such  selection  has 
been  frequently  the  result  of  bHnd  imitation  of  work  given 
elsewhere.  Two  other  reasons  have  also  contributed  to  the 
position  occupied  by  bookkeeping :    the  fact  that  knowledge 


152    Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

of  this  topic  is  readily  translated  into  terms  of  dollars  and 
cents,  and  secondly,  that  greater  apparent  progress  has  been 
made  in  the  direction  of  "  teachableness  "  of  this  subject 
because  of  the  number  of  texts  and  available  material  on  the 
market. 

But  even  a  cursory  examination  of  the  technical  literature 
on  this  subject  will  surprise  the  investigator  with  the  sameness 
of  the  many  texts  offered  for  sale.  All  of  these  books  are 
roughly  divisible  into  two  groups,  —  the  theoretical  and  the 
practical,  the  latter  being  in  reaHty  a  combination  of  the  two. 
Most  of  the  books  dealing  with  the  theoretical  presentation 
follow  what  is  known  as  the  journal-ledger  method,  i.e.,  the 
journal  is  taught  first  and  postings  to  the  ledger  subsequently. 
From  time  to  time,  different  authors  have  attempted  a  more 
scientific  as  well  as  a  more  pedagogic  method  by  teaching  the 
account  first ;  practically  all,  however,  have  missed  the  essen- 
tial relationship  of  account  to  account,  which  obtains  in  the 
double  entry  system.  It  is  also  to  be  noted  that,  with  a  very 
few  exceptions,  all  are  agreed  that  double  entry  bookkeeping 
is  to  be  presented  at  the  start  and  as  the  essential  method  of 
the  course,  while  single  entry  is  relegated  to  a  subordinate 
part.  Regarding  the  texts  which  deal  with  practical  book- 
keeping, and  the  greater  number  nowadays  are  these,  the  so- 
called  budget  or  business  practice  system  appears  to  predomi- 
nate. Detailed  criticism  and  further  comment  on  this  topic 
are  reserved  for  later  treatment. 

Does  bookkeeping  deserve  the  high  position  which  it 
occupies  in  commercial  education?  It  surely  does  in  view 
of  its  recognized  importance  in  the  business  community. 
But  it  must  be  admitted  that  it  holds  the  position  it  does 
despite,  rather  than  because  of,  what  teachers  have  done  for 
it.     This  statement  is  made  advisedly  in  view  of  the  fact  that 


Bookkeeping  153 

many  successful  pedagogues,  even  after  fifteen  and  twenty- 
years'  experience,  have  either  a  warped  or  an  inadequate  idea 
of  just  why  the  subject  is  taught.  Many  of  them  will  say 
when  asked  for  the  first  time  that  the  sole  excuse  for  teaching 
the  subject  is  because  of  its  utilitarian  value,  i.e.,  because  of 
its  usefulness  as  a  trade  or  calling.  While  fully  in  accord 
with  the  doctrine  that  bookkeeping  is  distinctly  a  practical 
subject,  it  must  be  evident  that  to  one  whose  only  aim  in 
teaching  a  subject  is  an  attempt  to  impart  a  knowledge  of 
"  how  to  do  it,"  the  method  whereby  this  object  may  be  at- 
tained is  of  small  consequence.  In  other  words,  it  sums  up 
the  fault  of  teaching  a  trade  now  counteracted  by  the  manual 
training  movement,  which  is  a  wise  and  serious  endeavor  to 
substitute  adaptability  for  adaptation. 

It  is  premised  of  bookkeeping,  as  of  any  other  subject, 
that  the  very  best  index  to  the  methodology  to  be  employed  in 
presentation  is  a  clearly  defijied  motive.  We  must  first 
decide  why  we  teach  it.  The  how  and  the  when  are  after  con- 
siderations. Why,  then,  should  the  keeping  of  books  be  taught 
in  our  schools?  It  is  necessary  that  we  regard  this  question 
from  a  twofold  aspect  of  pupil  and  subject-matter.  To  under- 
stand the  former  a  knowledge  of  psychology  is  requisite; 
a  thorough  understanding  of  bookkeeping  and  accounting 
is  essential  for  the  latter.  The  first  chapter  of  this  volume 
summarized  the  psychologic  foundation  underlying  teaching 
success.  It  is  assumed  that  the  reader  is  sufficiently  familiar 
with  his  subject  to  make  specific  reference  to  texts  on  book- 
keeping and  accounting  unnecessary. 

What  may  the  pupil  reasonably  expect  as  a  result  of  his 
course  in  bookkeeping?  Elsewhere  is  discussed  the  purpose 
and  aim  of  the  commercial  course.  Here  we  concern  ourselves 
with  the  result  of  the  work  in  bookkeeping  alone.     Obviously, 


154    Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

the  student  should  be  prepared  to  start,  or  to  continue,  a  set 
of  books  previously  begun,  in  an  ordinary  trading,  commission, 
or  manufacturing  concern.  He  should  be  able  to  conduct  the 
books  of  such  an  enterprise,  whether  organized  as  an  indi- 
vidual, a  partnership,  or  a  corporation.  He  should  be  able 
to  devise  the  books  incident  to  simple  partnerships  as  well  as 
to  corporations,  and  be  famihar  with  the  ordinary  adjustments 
occasioned  by  the  results  shown  at  the  end  of  fiscal  periods 
or  due  to  dissolutions.  The  additional  ability  afforded  by 
training  in  accounting  is  reserved  for  a  separate  chapter,  and 
the  incidental  knowledge  of  business  forms  and  usages  inherent 
to  a  practical  knowledge  of  the  subject  is  also  treated  of  in 
another  connection. 

The  aim  of  a  course  in  bookkeeping  is  thus  easily  outlined. 
Nothing  less  than  what  has  just  been  sketched  is  deemed 
requisite  by  most  modern  educators.  The  fault  lies  in  the 
beUef  that  the  imparting  of  the  knowledge  here  outlined  so 
briefly  sums  up  the  end  and  aim  of  the  course.  It  is  just 
here  that  we  take  issue  with  the  old-school  commercial  teacher. 
It  is  not  enough  that  our  pupils  know  how  to  journalize,  post, 
prepare  statements,  etc.  Too  long,  indeed,  have  we  been 
content  with  teaching  which  would  result  in  just  this  knowl- 
edge, and  nothing  else.  Yes,  it  was  knowledge,  and  not 
ability,  that  was  given.  We  argue  for  knowledge  plus  that 
power  which  enables  one  to  cope  with  the  hitherto  unknown. 
Consider  this  illustration.  The  advent  of  the  modern  corpo- 
ration necessitated  entries  previously  not  experienced  by  the 
bookkeeper.  The  Uterature  of  our  subject  abounds  in  examples 
of  how  the  kind  of  training  we  deplore  limited  the  understand- 
ing of  those  called  upon  to  solve  the  new  problems.  We  are 
just  beginning  to  emerge  from  the  fooUsh  errors  which  their 
solutions  led  us  into.     None  of  us  can  tell  the  changes  which 


Bookkeeping  155 

the  near  future  has  in  store  for  us.  It  is  our  duty,  now  that 
we  are  awake  to  our  true  position,  so  to  train,  not  merely 
impart  information,  as  to  give  this  power  of  initiative,  of 
reacting  to  new  and  strange  conditions.  This  can  never  be 
accomplished  by  the  rote-method  which  once  prevailed. 

What  then,  is  the  question,  should  be  given  besides  the  drill 
and  imitation,  which  will  make  possible  the  keeping  of  a  set 
of  books?  The  reasoning  power  should  be,  and  can  be,  devel- 
oped, as  will  be  shown  in  the  model  lessons  which  follow. 
The  constructive  imagination,  that  power  which  next  to  rea- 
son makes  life  worth  while,  is  developed  by  bookkeeping, 
perhaps  better  than  by  most  subjects ;  and  this,  too,  will  be 
illustrated  in  models  to  be  presented  subsequently. 

Thus,  to  sum  up,  we  want  the  course  in  bookkeeping  (which 
is  often  the  only  commercial  subject  offered,  or  in  many  places, 
as  for  instance  in  so  many  private  business  schools,  the  only 
subject  which  affords  the  higher  mental  discipHne)  to  be  treated 
in  such  a  manner  as  to  realize  in  full  measure  all  its  pedagogic 
possibilities  for  the  student.  To  this  end,  the  barren  imita- 
tion of  types  and  models,  which  for  so  long  has  been  the  chief 
means  of  imparting  famiharity  with  the  subject,  must  be 
superseded  by  the  modern  treatment  already  suggested. 
When  the  conscientious  teacher  of  the  newer  bookkeeping 
grasps  this  idea,  the  problem  of  the  methodology  will  evolve 
slowly,  perhaps,  but  surely ;  for  just  as  the  boy  is  father  to  the 
man,  the  thought  is  sponsor  to  the  fruit-producing  effort. 
But  before  we  consider  the  subject  of  method,  we  must  return 
to  the  other  phase  of  the  problem  we  have  been  discussing  — 
the  teacher. 

What  is  expected  of  the  ideal  teacher  of  bookkeeping? 
It  would  be  a  needless  task  to  enter  into  a  discussion  of  those 
elements   without  which   successful  •  teaching  is  impossible. 


156    Principles  and  Methods  in  Com?nercial  Education 

Many  books  have  been  written  on  this  matter,  so  that  it  may 
almost  be  assumed  that  the  last  word  has  been  spoken.  Be- 
sides those  qualifications  inherent  in  the  make-up  of  the  ideal 
pedagogue,  certain  other  factors  are  almost  essential  for  the 
best  results  in  the  teaching  of  bookkeeping.  No  such  teacher 
can  be  a  bookworm.  He  must  have  first-hand  knowledge  of 
the  world  outside  the  schoolroom.  For  this  reason  it  is  best 
that  he  should  acquire  some  actual  office  experience,  if  neces- 
sary, during  the  summer  vacation.  The  corollary  often  de- 
duced from  this  proposition  is  as  actually,  as  it  is  logically, 
false.  The  man  who  has  nothing  else  to  offer  except  his 
practical  experience  cannot  teach  the  subject ;  the  bookkeeper 
or  accountant  per  se  is  not  the  person  for  the  class  room. 
Though  the  stand  we  take  is  quite  heterodox,  and  will  not  be 
applicable  for  some  years  to  come,  we  believe  that  the  ideal 
instructor  is  he  who,  in  addition  to  the  culture  and  training 
of  the  college  and  university,  has  had  the  benefits  of  practical 
experience  in  the  world  of  business.  But  this  discussion  need 
not  detain  us  longer,  for  the  problem  has  been  treated  of  in 
Chapter  III,  and  will  be  further  considered  in  Chapter  XV. 

We  return  to  the  question  —  Why  should  bookkeeping  be 
taught  in  our  schools?  As  has  already  been  intimated,  its 
practical  utility  is  the  prime,  but  by  no  means  the  only,  reason. 
The  present  teaching  of  accounts  consists,  in  general,  of  a 
scheme  whereby  rules  are  arbitrarily  assigned,  often  disguised 
as  reasons  by  the  use  of  the  logical  conjunctive  because,  and 
an  attempt  to  impart  familiarity  by  long-continued  repeti- 
tion of  assigned  model  forms.  Consider  these  illustrations 
taken  from  a  number  of  widely  used  texts : 

(a)  Debit  what  the  business  receives,  or  what  costs  value. 

(b)  Whenever  you  pay  a  person  on  account,  debit  the  person. 

(c)  When  you  owe  a  person,  credit  that  person. 


Bookkeeping  157 

{d)  Debit  cash  account  because  the  business  has  received 
value. 

{e)  Credit  the  person's  account  because  he  has  gotten  out 
of  our  debt. 

In  each  of  these  cases  it  is  readily  seen  that  the  work  is 
absolutely  deductive,  and  this  at  a  stage  when  it  ought  to  be 
entirely  inductive.  The  student  is  required  to  take  every- 
thing on  faith  ;  if  he  errs  in  journaHzing,  he  is  told,  "  You  are 
wrong  because  Cash  must  be  debited  when  received,"  etc. 
As  will  be  shown  later  in  this  chapter,  the  stultifying  influence 
of  such  procedure  may  be  entirely  removed,  and  that  without 
lengthening  the  time  devoted  to  presentation. 

As  a  corollary  to  the  assumption  that  bookkeeping  is  taught 
solely  for  its  utility,  another  evil  has  arisen.  In  the  method 
we  have  just  criticised,  the  faculty  of  imitation  is  appealed 
to  almost  exclusively.  The  appeal  to  the  reason,  the  arousing 
of  the  apperceptive  basis,  the  stimulation  of  the  imagination, 
—  for  all  of  which  the  subject  offers  a  great  opportunity, 
are  almost  entirely  neglected.  Consequently,  we  find  that 
teachers  of  bookkeeping  deem  it  necessary  to  repeat  element- 
ary work  in  advanced  classes.  Thus,  in  ever  so  many  texts, 
and  therefore  in  many,  many  class  rooms,  as  new  matter  is 
introduced,  the  sets  become  longer  and  longer,  because,  besides 
the  drill  on  the  new  material  introduced,  it  is  deemed  neces- 
sary to  repeat  previous  work.  The  reason  for  this  repetition 
is  often  stated  as  being  due  to  the  fact  that  the  work  of  the 
school  should  approximate  as  closely  as  is  possible  to  actual 
business,  where  easy  or  elementary  work  and  more  difficult  or 
advanced  operations  arise  almost  simultaneously.  Our  ob- 
jections to  a  continuance  of  such  procedure  are,  first  an  undue 
mass  of  materials ;  second,  the  dispersion  of  effort  by  requir- 
ing as  much  attention  to  what  is  already  known  as  to  new 


158    Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

matter ;  third,  the  practical  impossibility  of  devoting  more 
time  to  work  of  greater  value  to  the  pupil,  such  as  the  making 
of  statements  and  the  drawing  of  inferences  from  the  books. 
It  seems  to  us  that  the  solution  is  suggested  in  the  neglect  of 
commercial  teachers  to  heed  that  sound  pedagogic  doctrine 
which  enunciates  that  the  best  method  of  learning  a  topic  is 
to  understand  it.  "  That  which  one  understands,  one  need 
not  memorize."  In  fact,  the  weak  mentaUty  of  so-called  com- 
mercial students,  observed  by  their  teachers  and  their  sub- 
sequent employers,  is  probably  directly  traceable  to  their 
training  (or  lack  of  it)  in  school,  where,  instead  of  developing 
the  reasoning  faculty,  all  effort  was  concentrated  upon  the 
almost  inhuman  —  surely  inhumane  —  task  of  forcing  dis- 
agreeable and  superfluous  material  upon  the  youth.  The 
authors  have  demonstrated,  time  and  time  again,  that  a  better 
understanding  of  bookkeeping  can  be  imparted  by  proper 
methods  with  the  use  of  from  one-quarter  to  one-third  of  the 
usual  mass  of  material  than  is  at  present  ordinarily  attempted 
with  the  well-padded  text  and  modern  budget.  Hence,  to 
put  the  objections  affirmatively,  we  favor  shorter  sets,  less 
arithmetical  work  in  accounts  proper,  and  much  less,  though 
not  entire  neglect  of,  repetition  of  old  matter. 

If,  then,  utility  is  not  the  all-sufficient  motive  for  the  teach- 
ing of  bookkeeping,  what  is  ?  Before  we  can  answer  this  ques- 
tion, it  is  well  to  recall  that  modern  conditions  have  so  changed 
the  complexion  of  the  industrial  and  economic  life  that  much 
of  the  discipHnary  and  cultural  training  afforded  by  the  clas- 
sical high  or  secondary  schools  must  either  be  denied  the  com- 
mercial student  or  else  given  him  in  conjunction  with  his 
practical  education.  Elsewhere  in  this  volume  the  cultural 
side  of  business  education  is  discussed.  Bookkeeping  is  often 
the  medium  whereby  mental  discipline  must  be  furnished,  if 


Bookkeeping  159 

at  all.  As  will  be  shown  in  the  model  lessons  below,  the 
inductive  processes  will  be  employed  in  the  estabhshment  of 
rules  and  forms,  while  deduction  will  be  the  operation  in  their 
subsequent  employment.  Proposed  solutions  should  be  tested 
at  all  steps,  by  questions  which  should  tend  to  confirm  the 
correctness  of  entries  or  else  expose  their  faults.  This,  also, 
will  be  illustrated  later.  Thus,  it  is  seen,  bookkeeping  can  be 
so  taught  as  to  appeal  not  only  to  the  parent  of  the  boy  or  girl 
who  wishes  his  child  to  acquire  a  knowledge  of  the  subject 
because  of  its  practical  aspect,  but  also  to  the  parent  who, 
entirely  aside  from  the  utility  a  subject  may  possess,  desires 
the  mental  power  which  comes  from  proper  mind  exercise. 
If  this  latter  phase  of  the  subject  can  be  presented  to  the 
teachers  of  the  land  with  nearly  the  strength  and  force  with 
which  it  appeals  to  the  authors,  and  if,  besides,  a  text  can  be 
produced  embodying  the  principles  here  enunciated  and  later 
illustrated,  then  it  is  confidently  beUeved  bookkeeping  will 
come  into  its  own  rich  heritage. 

A  few  additional  general  remarks  are  in  order  before  we  pro- 
ceed to  a  consideration  of  special  lessons  and  topics.  Inas- 
much as  the  subject  of  bookkeeping  is  receiving  serious  atten- 
tion on  the  part  of  educators  who  are  probably  competent 
to  produce  texts  of  more  permanent  merit  than  those  now  in 
use,  and  notwithstanding  the  fact  that  a  good  beginning  has 
already  been  made,  we  refrain  from  recommending  any  books. 
There  can  be  no  doubt,  however,  that  a  text  embodying  the 
pedagogic  doctrines  enunciated  in  this  chapter,  would  fill 
a  real  want.  If,  then,  no  ideal  work  is  available,  shall  all 
text-books  be  abandoned?  Most  emphatically  no.  Every 
practical  teacher  knows  that  for  purposes  of  efficient  review, 
texts  are  necessary.  They  are  also  valuable  time-savers  in 
that  a  student  may  employ  them  for  general  reference  in  the 


i6o     Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

matter  of  forms,  commercial  paper,  definitions,  etc. ;  and  they 
give  abundant  drill  material. 

As  some  sort  of  a  text  is  essential  not  only  for  the  reasons 
outlined  in  the  previous  paragraphs,  but  also  as  furnishing 
the  overworked  teacher  with  the  Ust  of  transactions,  one  other 
general  question  remains.  This  query  deals  with  the  char- 
acteristics of  a  good  practice  set.  We  are  in  entire  accord 
with  those  who  favor  the  use  of  the  budget  or  business  practice 
set,  though  in  passing,  we  wish  to  state  that  we  do  not  favor 
the  use  of  correlated  business  papers  until  the  theory  has  been 
well  presented.  For  a  fuller  discussion  of  this  topic,  the 
reader  is  referred  to  the  chapter  on  Business  Practice.  From 
the  point  of  view  of  bookkeeping  alone,  a  number  of  simple 
tests  suggest  themselves  with  reference  to  the  requirements 
of  the  practice  set.     These  are  : 

1.  They  should  emphasize  the  new  points  illustrated  by 
the  introductory  exercises  which  should  always  precede  a 
formal  set. 

2.  Each  set  should  be  a  review  of  previous  work,  but  the 
amount  of  such  review  work  should  be  at  a  minimum.  The 
authors  have  in  mind  a  set  of  corporation  transactions  con- 
sisting of  over  one  hundred  and  fifty  entries,  of  which  less  than 
one- tenth  were  directly  concerned  with  corporation  accounting. 

3.  The  arithmetical  work  involved  should  be  simple. 
Involved  commercial  arithmetic  should  be  left  for  the  mathe- 
matics room.  Teachers  are  too  prone  to  excuse  lengthy  prob- 
lems on  the  ground  that  they  are  "  practical"  ;  true,  but  they 
distract  from  the  subject  taught  in  the  bookkeeping  room. 
If  possible,  a  correlation  between  the  work  of  the  bookkeep- 
ing and  mathematics  room,  to  the  end  that  most  of  the  arith- 
metic should  be  performed  in  the  latter  recitation,  would  be 
an  ideal  plan. 


Bookkeeping  i6i 

Before  asking  the  reader's  consideration  of  the  illustrative 
material  about  to  be  presented,  it  is  well  to  caution  him  against 
a  blind  acceptance  of  what  is  offered.  The  authors  realize 
the  futihty  of  attempting  to  impress  upon  the  teacher  their 
methods  and  devices ;  all  that  is  attempted  is  a  suggestive 
portrayal  of  what  may  be  done  to  the  end  that  Hfe  interest 
and  pedagogic  utiUty  shall  be  imparted  to  the  teaching  of 
bookkeeping.  Hence,  these  model  lessons  are  to  be  used 
only  as  an  index  to  a  personal  treatment  of  the  subject  by  each 
teacher  for  himself.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  authors  them- 
selves do  not  adhere  to  a  single  mode  of  presentation ;  they 
have  the  aim  of  the  given  lesson  before  them ;  they  are  then 
in  a  position  to  avail  themselves  of  the  opportunities  of  the 
moment  in  the  matter  of  individuality  of  pupil  and  class,  and 
changes  in  time  and  place,  to  adapt  the  work  to  the  exigencies 
of  the  occasion. 

The  experienced  instructor,  and  to  a  greater  degree  the 
conscientious  beginner,  finds  the  first  lesson  in  bookkeeping 
as  difficult  a  task  as  any  single  step.  Here,  as  in  the  real 
world  without,  the  first  impression  counts  for  much.  Of 
course  not  much  need  be  said  of  teachers  who  are  known  to 
commence  work  by  instructions  such  as  these :  **  Open  your 
books  and  study  the  first  two  pages ;  "  or,  "  Memorize  all  the 
rules  and  definitions  on  pages  4  to  8  inclusive." 

Here  no  difficulties  arise  because  none  are  felt.  But  is  not 
the  subject  entitled  to  as  favorable  an  introduction  as  it  is 
possible  to  give  ?  We  think  yes,  even  though  it  is  the  experi- 
ence of  many  of  us  that  the  average  pupil  approaches  the  sub- 
ject so  eager  for  it  that  he  needs  no  artificial  stimulus  to 
awaken  his  interest.  It  has  usually  been  our  custom  to  dis- 
cuss with  the  class,  before  beginning  the  formal  study,  the  im- 
portance of  bookkeeping  to   the  business  community,   the 


1 62     Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

openings  in  business  for  bookkeepers,  their  chances  of  promo- 
tion, etc.,  etc.  It  has  always  been  found  that  many  students 
take  pleasure  in  contributing  to  such  a  recital  from  the  experi- 
ences of  their  friends  and  relatives. 

As  will  be  seen,  double  entry  bookkeeping  is  taught  first, 
and  this  for  a  number  of  reasons.  Practically  all  concerns 
requiring  the  services  of  a  bookkeeper  demand  one  familiar 
with  this  system.  The  student  who  is  forced  to  drop  his 
studies  prematurely  thus  acquires  the  more  useful  of  two 
methods,  and,  finally,  the  transition  from  the  former  to  single 
entry  is  easier  and  more  logical  than  in  the  reverse  order. 
Let  it  be  remembered  that  single  entry,  from  the  standpoint 
of  the  student  mind,  is  not  synonymous  with  simple  book- 
keeping. 

We  have  had  occasion  to  object  to  the  exclusive  appeal  to 
memory  in  the  teaching  of  accounts.  This  objection  will 
be  found  reiterated  subsequently.  But  let  us  not  be  misunder- 
stood, for  we  stand  second  to  none  in  our  appreciation  of  the 
automatic  processes  of  habit  which  conserves  the  energy  of 
the  human  machine,  so  that  more  time  and  more  effort  be  avail- 
able for  new  situations.  Nevertheless,  we  are  compelled  to 
take  issue  with  the  narrow-minded  poHcy  which  claims  that 
because  an  operation,  or  a  set  of  operations,  is  eventually 
to  become  automatic,  bHnd,  unthinking,  and  unreasoning  drill 
is  the  method  indicated.  It  is  true,  of  course,  that  after  a 
number  of  similar  transactions  have  been  handled,  they  will 
come  to  be  correctly  recorded  without  a  conscious  hesitation 
over  the  solution  ;  this  result  is  natural,  but  it  does  not  follow 
that  because  the  mental  process  is  as  is  here  indicated,  that 
memoriter  work  should  predominate  in  the  bookkeeping  room. 
In  fact,  the  admission  that  the  rules  for  debiting  and  crediting, 
for  example,  are  unconsciously  mastered  in  time,  is  one  of 


Bookkeeping  163 

the  strongest  arguments  against  the  spending  of  time  in  mem- 
orizing such  rules. 

MODEL   LESSONS 

Introduction  —  First  Step 

In  order  to  save  the  reader's  time,  comment  and  length 
of  questions  and  answers  will  be  curtailed  as  far  as  possible. 
The  answer,  unless  otherwise  stated,  is  the  one  finally  accepted 
by  the  teacher,  and  then  restated  for  the  sake  of  finality. 
These  outhnes  are  all  based  on  lesson  notes  taken  from  the 
author's  plan  books. 

Why  does  a  business  man  "  keep  books  "  ? 

Many  answers  will  be  given,  but  they  can  readily  be  tabu- 
lated by  their  intent  so  as  to  show  this  answer : 

In  order  that  the  proprietor  may  know  the  progress  and  the 
condition  of  his  business. 

What  kind  of  business  does  a  person  do  ?     (Take  only  a  few.) 

He  trades,  he  buys  and  sells,  etc. 

When  a  business  man  buys  a  case  of  shoes,  or  sells  a  pair, 
what  is  this  buying  or  selling  called  ? 

A  transaction.  (It  is  often  well  to  make  this  statement, 
though  in  general  very  little  should  be  told  which  the  student 
can  get  for  himself  without  too  much  sacrifice  of  time.) 

Mention  some  transactions  which  occur  in  business. 

Besides  those  given,  paying  wages,  rent,  telephone  bills,  etc. 

In  each  case  elucidate  that  every  transaction  involves  an 
exchange  (transfer)  of  equal  values.  (Would  you  pay  $4.00 
for  a  $3.00  hat?  Would  an  employer  pay  $12.00  for  work  if 
he  could  get  similar  service  for  $10.00?) 

Bookkeeping  teaches  us  how  to  write  or  record  such  trans- 
actions.    We  now  proceed  to  record  a  few  of  them. 


164     Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

Write  on  the  board,  or  dictate  to  class,  the  following  trans- 
actions : 
April  3,  Sold  2  bbls.  Flour  at  $8.00  =  $i6.co 
April  4,  Sold  i  bbl.  Flour  at  $8.50  =  8.50 
April  4,  Bought  postage  stamps  =  .50 
April  5,  Sold  5  bbls.  Flour  at  $8.00  =  40.00 
April  6,  Paid  wages  to  boy  =      4.50 

How  much  is  left,  or  what  is  the  balance  ? 
Offer  this  as  a  simple  problem  in  arithmetic.     Some  boy 
will  volunteer  a  solution  set  down  in  this  form : 

What  was  received :  What  was  spent : 

April  3 $16.00    April  4       ....  $  .50 

April  4 8.50    April  6       ....  4.50 

April  5 40.00  

Total  amount  received      $64.50    Total  amount  spent  $5.00 
.50  minus  $5.00  =  $59.50,  balance. 


Elicit  from  class  that  you  had,  first,  a  kind  of  diary  record, 
i.e.,  the  list  of  transactions.  Then  you  arranged  the  individual 
entries,  items,  in  the  form  shown.     Then  ask  why  you  did  so. 

This  arrangement  is  known  as  a  "  cash  account,"  because 
it  is  an  account,  or  record,  of  money  or  cash.  Set  another 
similar  exercise,  and  then  show  them  a  formal  cash  account 
(in  their  text-books,  on  the  blackboard,  or  on  a  chart). 

This  account  is  not  the  cash  book,  but  the  ledger  form. 
Get  them  to  point  out  the  "  cash  received  "  column,  the 
"cash  paid  out"  column.  Why  are  dates  desirable?  Are 
they  really  essential  ?  Could  you  determine  the  cash  balance 
if  the  dates  were  omitted?  How  about  the  explanation 
spaces?  We  satisfy  their  natural  desire  to  know  by  telling 
them  that  we  could  insert  opposite  April  3  —  "2  bbls.  Flour," 
but  for  the  present  we  need  not  do  so.     The  account  is  taught 


Bookkeeping  165 

first  because  it  is  the  fundamental  notion  in  bookkeeping. 
The  first  book  taught  is  the  ledger  because  it  is  the  book  of 
accounts. 

The  chief  argument  in  favor  of  the  procedure  of  those  who 
teach  the  daybook,  or  journal-daybook  first,  is  that  it  is  the 
chronological  and  hence  the  logical  order,  and  that  it  is  in 
fine  with  the  historical  development  of  the  subject.  This 
stand  has  no  logical,  philosophic,  historical,  or  pedagogic  leg 
to  rest  upon.  The  first  bookkeeping  was  of  the  ledger  solely. 
And  it  has  lately  been  called  to  our  attention  that  as  a  sort 
of  curious  commentary  on  the  law  of  evolution  which  states 
that  the  Hfe  history  of  the  race  is  epitomized  in  the  develop- 
ment of  the  child  to  man's  estate,  the  child-mind  of  an  un- 
tutored man  who  attempts  bookkeeping  without  instruction 
naturally  hits  upon  the  use  of  ledger-Uke  accounts. 

DEBIT   AND   CREDIT 

No  mystery  attaches  to  these  terms.  They  may  be  treated 
as  follows : 

What  is  the  name  of  the  first  column  ?     (No  concert  answers.) 

The  receiving  column. 

Can  you  think  of  any  other  name  for  it  ? 

The  first  column ;    the  left-hand  column ;  etc. 

Now  tell  them  that  bookkeepers  call  it  the  debit  column, 
for  a  reason  they  will  understand  better  as  they  study  more 
of  bookkeeping. 

Similarly,  the  other  column  is  referred  to  as  the  credit 
column.  Follow  this  up  with  a  few  short  exercises  in  cash 
accounts,  in  which  the  arithmetic  is  simple. 

It  is  preferable,  often,  to  use  a  sheet  of  paper  divided  by 
a  perpendicular  line  through  the  centre  rather  than  conven- 


1 66     Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

tional  ledger  sheets,  for  reasons  of  economy  and  speed.     These 
are  often  called  "  T  "  (tea)  accounts,  because  of  the  form : 


Rules  for  Debiting  and  Crediting  the  Cash  Account 

The  reader  will  observe  that  thus  far  the  work  was  cor- 
rectly performed  without  the  conscious  use  of  any  rule. 

Now  take  the  debit  side  of  a  Cash  account.  Point  out  the 
various  items  and  ask,  in  turn,  what  each  item  denotes. 
They  will  see  the  point  of  similarity,  viz.,  each  represents 
money  received  by  the  business.  Similarly,  the  items  in  the 
opposite  column  represent  money  paid  out  by  the  business. 
They  will  see  that  if  the  columns  were  transposed  consistently, 
the  balance  could  be  as  readily  determined.  But  as  the 
first  order  is  the  one  employed  in  business,  we  shall  adhere  to 
it.     Ask  for  a  formulation  of  rules  or  agreements,  and  accept : 

Debit  Cash  account  for  all  money  received  by  the  business. 

Credit  Cash  account  for  all  money  paid  out  by  the  busi- 
ness. 

Ask  them  to  write  from  dictation :  Debit  Cash  account 
$15.00;  debit  Cash  account  $25.00;  credit  Cash  account 
$12.00 ;  etc. 

DOUBLE   ENTRY   BOOKKEEPING 

Just  as  in  the  first  lesson,  no  technical  terms  are  to  be 
employed  until  the  way  has  been  paved  for  them. 

Recall  that  bookkeeping  is  a  record  of  business  trans- 
actions.   As  no  one  would  desire  it  to  be  a  record  of  one- 


•  Bookkeeping  167 

quarter,  one-third,  or  one-half  of  the  transactions,  but  of  all 
of  them,  it  is  a  complete  record. 

Consider  the  Cash  account  employed  in  the  last  lesson. 
It  is  a  record  of  all  the  cash  received  and  paid  out  by  the 
business. 

If  you  ask  whether  the  business  consisted  of  anything  be- 
sides the  giving  and  receiving  of  cash,  the  class  will  see  that 
goods  were  bought  and  sold,  wages  and  rent  paid,  etc. 

If  bookkeeping  is  to  be  a  complete  record  of  all  business 
transactions,  the  criticism  that  may  be  made  of  the  Cash 
account  as  the  only  record  is  its  insufficiency.  For  instance, 
it  does  not  show  what  was  bought  and  what  was  sold. 

Set  a  transaction  involving  a  purchase  or  a  sale  of  flour, 
and  ask,  —  "  Can  you  think  of  any  way  to  keep  a  record  of 
goods  bought  and  sold?" 

(The  usual  response  is  to  insert  explanation  in  the  explana- 
tory space.) 

Our  experience  leads  us  to  believe  that  this  is  the  psy- 
chological point  to  grasp  the  meaning  of  the  generic  term, 
account. 

Lead  them  to  see  that  the  Cash  account  is  a  systematic 
collection  of  items,  each  one  of  which  refers  to  cash,  and 
that  all  are  gathered  together  under  the  title  "  Cash."  But 
why  "systematic"?  Because  items  having  the  same  ten- 
dency or  meaning  are  segregated  in  a  column  reserved  for 
such  items.  Thus,  money  received  from  whatever  source 
and  for  whatever  purpose  is  entered  in  one  column,  etc. 

Next  get  them  to  frame  definitions  for  the  Flour  account. 
Corn  account,  etc.,  they  are  about  to  use.  If  their  notions 
are  correct,  —  and  let  them  see  clearly  that  they  are  still  to 
test  the  correctness  of  their  views,  —  we  are  ready  for  the  final 
step.     This  consists  of  deriving  the  conception  of  the  term 


1 68     Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

account.  We  would  much  rather  relegate  this  task  to  a  later 
period,  but  it  is  well  to  take  it  up  here,  for  else  our  students 
would  constantly  use  a  term  they  do  not  even  vaguely  under- 
stand. 

By  comparing  the  definitions  tentatively  adapted  for  a 
number  of  accounts,  we  agree  that : 

An  account  is  a  systematic  collection  of  items,  each  one  of 
which  refers  to  a  single  idea  (subsequently  person,  thing,  or 
name)  and  all  gathered  together  under  an  appropriate  title. 

Now  repeat  the  question  regarding  the  purchase  or  sale  of 
flour. 

They  will  answer,  the  Flour  account.  Place  it  on  black- 
board thus: 

FLOUR  % 


Then  have  the  class  enter  a  half  dozen  purchases  and  sales 
of  flour. 

What  items  are  on  the  left  or  debit  side? 

They  will  readily  see  that  flour  received  or  bought,  on 
account  of  the  analogy  to  the  Cash  account,  is  placed  there. 

A  similar  procedure  will  estabUsh  the  significance  of  the 
credit  side. 

The  detailed  operation  had  better  be  illustrated : 


Bookkeeping  •  1 69 

Write  this  transaction  on  the  blackboard : 
Bought  10  bbls.  Flour  at  $7.50  =  $75.00, 
and  require  the  entry  for  the  same. 

They  will  give  the  cash  entry. 

But  this  is  not  a  complete  record,  because  it  does  not 
consider  the  flour.  They  will  readily  see  the  need  of  opening 
a  Flour  account. 

Shall  we  debit  or  credit  this  account  with  $75.00? 

They  usually  give  debit,  which  is  accepted  tentatively. 

(Give  few  similar  problems,  also  employing  wheat  and  corn, 
and  involving  both  purchases  and  sales.) 

They  will  then  generalize  these  individual  notions,  resulting 
in  the  following  agreements  : 

A.  I.  —  Debit  Cash  account  for  all  money  received  by  the 
business,  and  at  the  same  time 

2.  —  Credit  another  account  for  the  same  amount. 
And  in  a  similar  way  : 

B.  I.  —  Credit  Cash  account  for  all  money  paid  out  by 
the  business,  and  at  the  same  time 

2.  —  Debit  another  account  for  the  same  amount. 

They  are  now  also  ready  to  see  that  every  business  trans- 
action is  an  exchange  of  equal  values,  and  that  bookkeeping 
is  the  recording  of  such  exchanges  of  equal  values.  They 
will  readily  agree  that  no  entry  is  complete  until  this  double 
relation  has  been  recorded.  But  what  is  the  name  of  a  sys- 
tem of  bookkeeping  which  requires  such  a  double  entry? 
Simply  enough,  double  entry  bookkeeping. 

The  class  is  now  in  a  position  to  deduce  the  basic  principle 
of  double  entry  bookkeeping : 

Every  Transaction  must  result    in    Debits  and  Credits  of 
Equal  Amount 


170    Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

EXPENSE   AND   MERCHANDISE   ACCOUNTS 

Salary  account,  Rent  account,  and  Stationery  account  may 
next  be  established. 

The  next  steps  may  consist  of  a  generalization  whereby 
salaries,  rent,  postage,  etc.,  are  grouped  under  the  general 
term  Expense.  In  a  similar  way  Merchandise  account  is 
arrived  at.  Though  the  authors  are  in  hearty  accord  with 
Professor  Charles  E.  Sprague's  unanswerable  argument  that  an 
account  which  has  to  be  made  over  should  be  made  correct  at 
first,  we  do  not  advocate,  at  present,  the  teaching  of  Merchan- 
dise Purchase  and  Merchandise  Sales  account,  because  the 
change  involves  too  great  pressure  upon  the  teacher  dependent 
upon  the  available  elementary  texts.  In  passing,  however,  it 
may  be  said  that  the  authors  have  conducted  the  suggested 
experiment  in  one  of  their  classes,  with  satisfactory  results. 

THE   proprietor's   ACCOUNT 

Now  that  some  conception  of  fundamental  accounts  has 
been  acquired,  we  are  ready  to  go  a  step  further.  Though 
the  introduction  of  the  proprietor's  account  at  this  point  is 
not  sanctioned  by  that  principle  of  pedagogy  which  requires 
easy  gradation  from  lesson  to  lesson,  we  are  inchned  to  make 
a  desirable  sacrifice,  because  when  this  account  has  been 
mastered,  complete  sets  for  practice  become  possible. 

We  are  ready  to  consider  the  method  of  presentation. 
Set  for  solution  an  ordinary  transaction  involving  a  cash  in- 
vestment. Despite  the  fact  that  the  class  has  been  drilled 
on  the  need  of  first  deciding  whether  Cash  account  is  to  be 
debited  or  credited,  and  then  to  consider  the  other  account, 
they  will  always  hesitate  at  this  problem.     Suggest  that  the 


Bookkeeping  .  171 

Cash  account  be  dealt  with  first.  Was  this  money  received 
or  given  by  the  business  ?  Here  is  the  place  to  develop  the 
distinction  between  the  proprietor  and  his  business.  The  exer- 
cise should  include  withdrawals  and  additional  investments. 

It  is  not  deemed  necessary,  nor,  indeed,  will  space  per- 
mit, to  illustrate  all  the  steps  of  a  complete  course  in  the 
subject  which  forms  the  topic  of  this  section.  The  syllabus 
which  is  appended  to  this  chapter  suggests  the  order  in  which 
the  various  divisions  should  be  treated.  Though  there  exists 
very  little  doubt  in  our  minds  regarding  the  advisability  of 
a  strict  adherence  to  the  suggested  order  in  the  beginning, 
greater  mobility  is  permissible,  and  probably  desirable,  in 
the  more  advanced  portion.  In  order  to  avoid  the  breaks  in 
the  continuity  of  the  narrative,  and  because  the  form  and 
method  of  the  class-room  question  and  answer  device  has 
already  been  sufficiently  indicated,  the  balance  of  these  model 
lessons  will  be  in  the  narrative  form. 

PERSONAL  AND  OTHER  ACCOUNTS 

In  the  introductory  paragraphs,  the  statement  was  made 
that  the  pedantic  rules  to  which  we  took  exception  might  be 
avoided.  We  propose  to  illustrate  this  point  in  connection 
with  personal  accounts. 

Commence  this  lesson  by  recalling  the  basic  principle  of 
double  entry  bookkeeping.  Then  write  this  transaction  on 
the  board :  Sold  to  Thos.  Jones,  on  account,  3  bbls.  flour 
at  $8.00,  $24.00.  Your  request  for  the  entry  will  probably 
result  in  Cash  account.  Debit,  and  Merchandise  account  (or 
Flour  or  Merchandise  Sales  account)  credit.  Apply  that 
sobering  influence,  always  at  the  teacher's  command,  the 
question.  What  does  the  credit  to  Merchandise  account 
indicate?    Was   merchandise   really   sold?    What   does   the 


172     Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

Debit  to  Cash  account  show  ?  Was  money  actually  received  ? 
If  your  bookkeeping  is  to  be  a  truthful  record,  the  cash  entry 
must  be  wrong.  (Continue  questioning,  of  course.)  But 
some  debit  is  necessary.  Agree  to  accept  a  debit  to  a  new 
account,  that  of  Thos.  Jones.  EHcit  that  it  is  intended  to 
show  that  Mr.  Jones  owes  us  $24.00.  Now  to  test  the  correct- 
ness of  our  proposed  solution,  what  should  the  Jones  account 
show  after  he  pays  us  $10.00  on  account?  (Explain  "on 
account,"  if  necessary.)  Make  the  entry  for  this  part  pay- 
ment using  agreement  A  2,  and  as  Jones  is  the  only  possible 
name  of  the  "  other  account  "  employ  it.  Does  the  account 
show  a  balance  of  $14.00?  What  does  it  now  indicate?  If, 
next,  he  pays  the  balance  in  cash,  what  entry  results  ?  What 
does  the  account  now  show? 

Set  a  similar  problem  in  buying  an  account,  and  subse- 
quently settling  the  same  in  cash. 

They  will  now  be  ready  to  grasp  the  value  of  what,  for  the 
lack  of  a  better  term,  we  shall  call  the  ''  Substitution  Device." 
It  is :  "  When  a  transaction  does  not  involve  cash,  assume 
that  it  does ;  proceed  to  debit  and  credit  accordingly ;  then 
substitute  for  cash  the  name  of  the  new  account." 

Illustrations  (if  they  are  already  famiHar  with  the  Journal, 
the  solutions  are  somewhat  easier) : 

I.    Sale  to  Jones  on  account. 

(a)  The  assumption  of  a  cash  sale  gives : 

Cash  (debit)  [(Debit)  and  (credit)  unnec- 

Merchandise  (credit)  essary,  if  they  know  the 

Journal] 

(&)  By  the  process  of  substitution  : 
Jones 

■Cash  (debit)  [Note  how  the  substitution 

Merchandise  (credit)         is  made  by  crossing  out,  etc.] 


Bookkeeping  i73 

(c)  To  finished  product : 
Jones  (debit) 

Merchandise  (credit) 
Of  course,  in  the  beginning,  and  in  more  advanced  work, 
mere  parrot-like  memory  may  be  combated  by  insisting  upon 
the  reason  for  such  substitutions. 

2.  A  purchase  from  Smith   on    account  may  be  treated 

similarly : 

Smith 
Merchandise  to  -Cash. 

3.  Bills  Receivable  (Notes  Receivable).  A  knowledge  of 
promissory  notes  is  assumed,  prior  to  the  need  for  any  book 
entries  involving  these.  Let  us  consider  the  following  trans- 
action : 

Sold  T.  Jones,  on  his  lo-day  note,  5  bbls.  flour  at  $8.00  = 

$40.00. 

After  their  mind  is  aroused  to  a  feehng  that  some  entry  is  nec- 
essary for  the  note,  they  will  not  be  satisfied  with  "  a,"  below  : 

{a)  Cash 

Merchandise 
The  first  appUcationof  the  Substitution  Device  will  result  in : 

{h)  Jones 

Merchandise 
But  the  final  result  will  be : 

(c)  Notes 

Merchandise 
Now,  tell  them  that  bookkeepers  employ  the  term  Notes 
Receivable  or  Bills  Receivable,  instead  of  "  Notes,"  so  that 
the  accepted  entry  becomes  : 
{d)  Notes  Receivable 

To  Merchandise 


174     Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

4.  Smith,  who  has  bought  goods  on  account,  gives  us  a  note 
in  full  or  in  part  settlement. 

After  bringing  out  the  notion  that  the  change  from  the 
oral  or  implied,  to  the  written,  promise  to  pay  is  not  a  real 
cancellation  of  the  debt,  proceed  to  the  journaHzing  by  means 
of  the  following  steps : 

Notes  Rec. 
a)  Cash  h)  Cash  c)  Notes  Rec. 

Jones  Jones  Jones 

Steps  a  and  h  are  crutches  of  course.  It  will  soon  be  found 
that  the  solution  may  be  performed  mentally.  Eventually, 
the  final  solutions  will  become  so  familiar,  by  the  operation 
of  the  laws  of  association,  that  the  student  will  lose  sight  of 
the  steps  whereby  they  are  derived.  This  state  of  affairs  is 
analogous  to  the  situation  found  in  other  subjects.  For  ex- 
ample, in  algebra,  the  proofs  of  certain  factoring  processes  are 
forgotten  whereas  the  result  is  remembered. 

The  Substitution  Device  is  an  effective  crutch.  It  should 
later  be  reconciled  with,  and  abandoned  for,  the  general 
rule  for  debit  and  credit,  namely,  accounts  are  to  be  debited 
for  receipts  or  costs,  and  credited  for  disbursements  or  pro- 
ceeds. 

5.  Discount  (Interest  or  Interest  and  Discount  and  Mer- 
chandise Discount)  is  treated  similarly. 

Discounted  Jones'  $500.00  note,  due  in  60  days,  at  Bank,  re- 
ceiving credit  for  net  proceeds.  (Face  $500.00,  Discount 
$5.00,  Net  Proceeds  $495.00.) 

{a)  Cash  $500.00  (Is  it  true  that  you  received 

Notes  Receivable  $500.00       $500?) 

(Is  it  true  that  you  gave  the 
entire  note  ?  How  much 
did  you  receive  for  it  ?) 


Bookkeeping 


17s 


therefore : 

{h)  Cash  $495.00  (Recall  the  basic  principle  of 

Notes  Receivable    $500.00     double  entry  bookkeeping, — 

debits  must  equal  credits.) 
therefore : 

{c)  Cash  $495.00 

?  5.00 

Notes  Receivable  $500.00 


(To  which  account  does  the 
$5.00  belong?  Show  that 
a  record  of  discount  oper- 
ation should  be  kept.) 


{d)  Cash  $495.00 

Discount  5.00 

Notes  Receivable  $500.00 


THE   TRIAL   BALANCE 

Consider  with  class,  on  blackboard,  the  result  of  a  num- 
ber of  transactions.  The  first  transaction  resulted  in  debits 
and  credits  of  equal  amount,  the  second  Ukewise.  Hence,  the 
sum  of  the  first  two  debits  equals  the  sum  of  the  first  two 
credits.  Similarly,  treat  the  third  and  the  fourth  transactions. 
Suppose  one  of  the  debit  entries  of  the  series  was  omitted. 
The  equahty  disappears.  An  important  test,  therefore,  is 
this  equality.  Have  the  class  foot  up  the  totals  of  the  ac- 
counts in  their  ledger.  Write  these  down  in  the  usual  form. 
This  is  called  a  Trial  Balance  of  Totals.  (Note :  the  techni- 
cal term  is  not  employed  until  the  way  has  been  paved  for  it.) 

Why  a  trial  ?     Why  of  totals  ? 

This  trial  balance  is  an  illustration  of  the  mathematical 
axiom  :  The  sums  of  equals  are  equal. 

The  real  Trial  Balance,  the  practical  one,  should  not  yet 
be  developed.  (See  Syllabus.)  It  is  inserted  here  for  the 
sake  of  convenience. 


176     Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 
Consider  this  account  on  the  blackboard : 


J.  SMITH 


600 
300 


200 
200 


What  does  the  debit  side  show ?  Credit  side?  How  much 
is  the  balance?  What  does  it  denote?  How  did  you  obtain 
the  balance?  By  deducting  $400.00  from  $900.00.  This  is 
equivalent  to  deducting  $400.00  from  each  side. 

(Explanation :  $900.00  —  $400.00  =  $500.00,  $400.00  — 
$400.00  =  $0,  therefore  balance  =  $500.00  —  $0  =  $500.00.) 

Next  copy  the  Trial  Balance  first  taught  and  leave  two 
extra  columns. 


The  Cash  account  shows  that 
$3000  was  received  and  $1200 
paid  out,  therefore  the  debit  side 
is  $1800  greater.  Place  in  debit 
balance  column.  Similarly  for 
the  other  accounts.  In  these 
cases  make  use  of  the  principle 
just  explained. 

This  is  a  Trial  Balance  of  dif- 
ferences or  balances,  always  re- 
ferred to  as  the  Trial  Balance, 
because  it  is  the  only  one  used. 
Here  derive  definition. 


Dr. 
Total 

Cr. 

Total 

Dr. 
Bal- 
ance 

Cr. 
Bal- 
ance 

Cash 

3000 

1200 

1800 

Mdse. 

1800 

2100 

300 

Expense 

ISO 

150 

R.  Rollins, 

Prop. 

2000 

2000 

T.  Jones 

1800 

500 

1300 

J.  Smith 

1000 

1950 

9SO 

7750 

7750 

3250 

3250 

Bookkeeping  177 

This  Trial  Balance  is  employed  by  business  men  because 
they  are  not  so  much  interested  in  how  much  money  was 
received  during  the  year  and  how  much  was  paid  out,  as 
how  much  is  now  on  hand,  etc. 

Show  relation  to  another  axiom  of  mathematics :  If  equals 
are  subtracted  from  equals,  results  are  still  equal. 

JOURNAL 

Have  the  pupils  make  entries  for  a  half  dozen  transactions 
dictated  to  them.  If  these  transactions  are  of  ordinary 
difficulty,  from  30  %  to  60  %  will  be  found  to  have  made  one 
or  more  errors  either  of  dropping  a  debit  or  a  credit,  or  else 
of  transposition.  To  avoid  such  errors,  the  journal  is  used. 
It  is  an  indicator,  —  it  indicates  the  entries  to  be  made  in 
the  ledger.  Here  develop  use  of  posting  or  checking  figures, 
and  introduce  terms :  journalizing  and  posting.  Also,  show 
importance  of  book  of  original  entry,  and  journal-daybook 
combination,  referred  to  as  the  Journal.  The  explanation  in 
the  journal  should  develop  conciseness  and  exactness  of 
expression.  The  test  for  such  explanation  is  maximum  in- 
formation in  minimum  number  of  words,  and  the  stranger's 
abiHty  to  interpret  the  entry, 

THE    STATEMENTS 

{A)  Profit  and  Loss  Statement : 

This  statement  and  the  balance  sheet  should  be  set  as  more 
frequent  exercises  than  is  usually  the  case. 

The  first  few  Profit  and  Loss  Statements  should  not  in- 
volve any  inventories.  Consider  them  as  arithmetical  prob- 
lems in  loss  and  gain.     Use  one  of  the  previous  trial  balances. 

Recall  that  the  object  of  bookkeeping  is  to  determine  the 


178     Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

progress  and  condition  of  the  business.  The  progress  is  the 
answer  to  the  questions:  "How  did  my  business  do?" 
"  How  is  it  getting  along?  "  It  is  analogous  to  the  term  net 
gain  in  arithmetic.  To  determine  it  (elicit  all  this)  compare 
all  the  accounts  of  the  ledger  which  show  gains  or  losses. 
The  difference  between  the  sum  of  the  profits  and  the  sum  of 
the  losses  is  the  net  gain  (or  net  loss).  Rapidly  go  down  the 
list  of  balances  to  ascertain  what  each  balance  denotes. 
Assume  that  in  a  given  illustration.  Merchandise  account 
shows  that  we  bought  goods  amounting  to  $1800  and  sold 
them  for  $2100,  resulting  in  a  profit  of  $300.  But  in  order  to 
carry  on  the  business  we  incurred  expenses  amounting  to 
$150.  These  expenses  reduce  our  profits,  hence  the  real  or 
net  profit  is  $300  less  $150,  or  $150. 

The  form  of  the  statement  is  not  regarded  as  of  prime  im- 
portance. Once  the  student  has  succeeded  in  grasping  the 
essentials  of  a  profit  and  loss  exhibit,  it  has  been  found  that 
he  can  easily  adapt  his  mathematics  to  the  prescribed  form. 

Let  us  now  consider  the  case  of  inventories.  First,  ask 
questions  which  will  tend  to  focus  the  mind  upon  the  neces- 
sity of  considering  this  item.  A  question  such  as  this  is  of 
help :  Bought  a  horse  and  wagon  for  $300 ;  sold  the  wagon 
for  $125.  Find  the  loss  or  gain.  Some  ridiculous  answers 
are,  of  course,  to  be  expected.  But  the  class  will  readily  see 
that  nothing  can  be  done  until  the  cost  of  each  item  has  been 
determined.  The  method  of  determining  the  loss  or  gain  on 
merchandise  is  suggested  by  the  following  form : 

Total  cost  of  goods  bought  (debit  side  of  Merchan- 
dise account)        $3000.00 

Value  of  the  unsold  portion  (Inventory)  ....  500.00 
Cost  of  the  goods  sold $2500.00 


Bookkeeping  179 

Selling  price  of  the  goods  sold  (credit  side  of  Mer- 
chandise account) $2800.00 

Gain  on  Merchandise  $300.00 

The  procedure  in  the  case  of  expense  is  as  follows  : 

Amount  spent  for  expenses  during (Expense 

account) $250.00 

Value  of  stationery,  coal,  etc.  not  used  up  (Inven- 
tory)              50.00 

Loss  due  to  expense  items  consumed  during $200.00 

$300  minus  $200  =  $100,  net  gain 

{B)  Balance  Sheet  (Statement  of  Resources  and  Liabilities, 
Statement  of  Assets  and  Liabilities) : 

It  is  best  to  defer  the  term  "  Balance  Sheet"  until  the  books 
have  been  closed,  for  until  then  the  name  is  an  arbitrary  one. 

Now  that  we  know  the  progress  of  the  business,  i.e.,  how 
much  was  made,  we  are  ready  to  attack  the  other  problem, 
viz.  that  of  the  condition  of  the  business.  How  much  is  the 
business  worth  now?  Set  this  to  pupils  in  the  form  of  a 
problem  in  arithmetic.     They  will  proceed  as  follows : 

The  proprietor  invested $3000.00 

His  net  gain  is       100.00 

Therefore  the  proprietor  now  has $3100.00 

We  will  here  describe,  as  briefly  as  possible,  one  of  our 
means  of  directing  the  minds  of  a  class  of  young  students  to 
the  consideration  of  the  problems  involved  in  the  business 
and  financial  statements.  In  illustrating  the  Cash  account  in 
the  first  lesson  we  may  have  referred  to  Robert  Lake,  who 
decided  to  sell,  say,  the  Thursday  Evening  Post,  in  order  to 
make  some  money.  As  we  followed  his  progress,  he  had 
bought  a  bicycle  to  assist  him  in  covering  his  route,  had 
estabHshed  a  good  reputation  so  that  the  news  agent  would 


i8o    Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

deliver  his  magazines  to  him  and  wait  for  payment  until  the 
following  week.  Bob  also  had  a  number  of  customers  who 
paid  him  by  the  month.  In  ascertaining  Bob's  net  gain,  as 
the  business  increased  in  complexity,  the  class  saw  the  need 
of  considering  the  unsold  magazines  which  could  be  returned 
at  cost,  and  his  various  expenses  such  as  postage,  car  fares 
on  rainy  days,  bicycle  repairs,  etc. 

This  simple  illustration  is  also  of  help  in  estabHshing  the 
Balance  Sheet.  After  finding  how  much  Bob  was  worth  by 
the  method  already  shown,  we  get  the  class  to  attempt  an- 
other solution  from  a  Trial  Balance  of  Bob's  business  shown 
on  the  blackboard,  to  which  is  added  the  inventory  of  his 
unsold  stock.  Besides  the  expense  accounts  the  Trial  Balance 
consists  of  Bob's  investment  account,  the  bicycle  account, 
the  accounts  of  his  customers,  and  the  balance  due  to  the  news 
company.  In  the  simplest  forms,  the  present  worth  consists 
of  the  cash  balance.  Subsequently,  there  is  added  to  this 
the  inventory  of  unsold  magazines,  the  value  of  the  bicycle, 
and  the  customers'  balances.  From  the  total  there  is  deducted 
the  credit  balance  due  to  the  news  company.  The  inventory 
is  further  elaborated  by  the  addition  of  such  items  as  unused 
postage  and  stationery.  It  may  be  said,  in  passing,  that 
this  illustrative  work  takes  very  much  less  time  than  might 
be  inferred  from  the  space  required  for  its  description  here. 

After  this  has  been  done,  by  questions  such  as  those  which 
are  suggested  by  the  items  taken  into  consideration  when 
discussing  the  richness  of  a  country  (its  resources),  we  derive 
the  term  Statement  of  Resources  and  LiabiHties,  or,  better, 
Statement  of  Assets  and  Liabilities.  But  as  the  illustra- 
tion is  only  a  means  to  an  end,  it  should  therefore  be  fol- 
lowed up  by  an  exercise  or  two  on  the  drawing  up  of  such 
statements. 


Bookkeeping  i8i 

Closely  following  upon  this  work  is  an  exercise  of  great 
disciplinary  value.  Each  student  should  have  before  him  a 
Trial  Balance,  the  inventory  items,  and  the  resulting  state- 
ments. If  time  permits,  it  is  well  to  have  these  on  the  black- 
boards also.  Assign  the  task  of  finding  any  item  in  the  Trial 
Balance  which  does  not  appear  on  either  of  the  two  state- 
ments. Pupils  will  point  out  the  proprietor's  account  and 
the  items  to  which  the  inventories  refer.  Consider  expense 
account.  Which  amount  appears  in  the  Statement  of  Assets 
and  Liabilities ?  Why?  Notice  that  every  item  in  the  asset 
column  of  the  Balance  Sheet  denotes  something  of  value  to 
the  business ;  every  one  in  the  liability  column,  something 
that  the  business  owes.  Hence  everything  of  value  owned 
by  the  business  is  an  asset,  everything  owed  is  a  liabiHty. 
The  difference  between  what  the  business  owns  and  what  it 
owes  is  the  present  worth.  This  present  worth  is  the  pro- 
prietor's net  investment  plus  the  net  gain.  It  may  then  be 
seen  that  every  item  on  the  debit  side  of  the  Trial  Balance 
(taking  inventories  into  consideration)  is  either  an  asset  or  a 
loss.  Test :  Does  this  item  represent  anything  of  value  be- 
longing to  the  business  ?  If  it  does,  it  is  an  asset ;  if  not,  it 
is  a  loss.  Similarly,  on  the  credit  side,  every  item  is  either  a 
liability  or  a  gain.  These  conclusions  need  not  be  memorized 
if  two  type  accounts  are  constantly  used  as  touch  stones : 

Cash  account  for  assets  and  liabilities  (a  debit  balance  is  a 
resource;   a  credit  balance,  a  liability). 

Expense  account  for  losses  and  gains  (a  debit  balance  is  a 
loss;   a  credit  balance,  a  gain). 

FORMULAS 

The  previous  exercise  should  lead  to  certain  formulas. 
The  value  of  such  expressions  is  not  generally  recognized  in 


1 82     Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

the  teaching  of  bookkeeping.  Here  full  play  to  the  inductive 
process  is  to  be  allowed.  As  a  result  of  their  profit  and  loss 
statement  they  should  derive  G.  —  L.  =  N.  G.  (gains  minus 
losses  equal  net  gain). 

The  balance  sheet  should  lead  to  A.  —  L.  =  P.  W.  (assets 
minus  liabilities  equal  present  worth). 

The  following  formulas  may  also  be  derived : 

L.  -  G.  =  N.  L. 
N.  I.  +  N.  G.  =  P.  W.  (net  investment  plus  net  gain  equals 
N.  I.  -  N.  L.  =  P.  W.  present  worth). 

P.  W.  -  N.  I.  =  N.  G. 
N.  I.  -  P.  W.  =  N.  L. 

It  is  understood,  of  course,  that  not  all  of  the  above  are  to 
be  taught  in  a  single  lesson,  but  each  in  its  appropriate  place. 

In  this  connection,  or  perhaps  in  the  lesson  on  Balance 
Sheets,  the  distinction  often  pointed  out  by  Professor  Sprague 
must  be  emphasized.  It  is  not  true  that  in  the  Balance 
Sheet,  or  anywhere  else  except  under  the  most  unusual  cir- 
ciunstances,  that  the  assets  are  equal  to  the  Uabihties.  The 
true  equation  is  A.  =  L.  +  Proprietorship. 

INTRODUCTION   OF   SPECIAL   BOOKS 

The  Sales  Book.  — •  The  cash  book  is  usually  presented  first, 
but  all  must  agree  that  the  sales  book  is  the  simpler  of  the 
two. 

Method.  —  Give  a  list  of  six  sales  transactions,  and  request 
their  journalization  and  posting.  Now  consider  the  credit 
side  of  Merchandise  account  (or  Merchandise  Sales  account). 
What  is  the  total  ?  Ask  for  suggestions  to  simplify  the  post- 
ing operations.  Some  will  offer  to  post  the  total  from  the 
journal  in  a  single  amount.     Is  this  practicable  in  view  of 


Bookkeeping  183 

the  fact  the  sales  are  not  usually  successive  entries  as  in  this 
case  ?  Why  not  reserve  a  few  of  the  journal  pages  for  sales  ? 
Then,  why  repeat  "  Mdse."  for  each  credit?  Can  it  be  indi- 
cated in  some  other  way?  How  about  writing  on  the  top  of 
this  reserved  section  of  the  journal  "  For  each  of  the  follow- 
ing items  credit  Merchandise  account"?  Then  show  the 
Sales  Book  in  the  text  and  frame  questions  until  the  book  is 
understood,  including  the  posting  of  the  totals.  Follow  this 
up  by  having  the  six  transactions  entered  in  the  sales  book 
and  posted.  Other  similar  exercises  may  be  set,  if  necessary, 
before  assigning  a  set  involving  the  use  of  the  sales  book. 

THE   CASH   BOOK 

In  a  manner  analogous  to  the  method  already  shown, 
deduce  the  desirability  of  segregating  the  cash  items  of  the 
journal  so  as  to  avoid  the  necessity  of  writing  "  Cash  "  for 
each  transaction  and  the  posting  of  each  separate  item.  The 
next  step  is  ordinarily  found  a  difficult  one. 

Assume  that  one  entry  in  the  journal  is : 


Cash 

Ck.  on  account 

$100.00 

R.  Smith 

$100.00 

and  the  other : 

Expense 

April  store  rent 

60.00 

Cash 

60.00 

The  question  is  how  to  utilize  the  journal  so  as  to  avoid 
the  repetition  of  the  term  "  Cash  "  and  the  individual  post- 
ings. Pupils  will  soon  see  the  need  of  separate  pages  for  cash 
receipts  and  cash  payments.  It  may  be  necessary  to  tell 
them  that  the  left  side  should  be  used  for  the  receipts  while 
the  adjoining  page  should  be  employed  for  the  payments. 
Arrange  this  roughly  on  the  board,  and  get  them  to  see  that 


184     Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 


"  R.  Smith  "  on  the  debit  side  is  to  be  posted  to  the  credit 
side  of  his  account.  Do  not  make  this  an  arbitrary  rule,  but 
help  them  to  frame  it  themselves.  Remember  that  the 
journal  was  introduced  as  a  convenient  indicator  of  the  sub- 
sequent entries  in  the  ledger ;  the  cash  book  is  a  substitute 
for  a  portion  of  the  journal,  —  it  still  indicates  though  not  in 
the  same  direct  form,  and  the  result  in  the  ledger  must  be 
the  same.     The  explanation  space  gives  no  trouble. 

It  is  sometimes  found  necessary  to  have  pupils  "  label  " 
their  columns  in  the  cash  book  and  in  other  books,  though  the 
use  of  such  a  crutch  is  not  to  be  encouraged  when  no  longer 
necessary.     The  debit  side  would  appear  thus : 


{Cash  Dr.) 


CASH   RECEIPTS 


Date 


AccT.  TO  BE  Credited 


Explanations 


Amount 


It  seems  unfortunate  to  us  that  the  general  practice  among 
bookkeepers  is  to  exclude  the  Cash  account  from  the  ledger 
entirely  when  a  cash  book  is  used.  The  implied  theory  is 
simple  enough.  The  rational  method  would  be  to  continue 
the  ledger  as  the  book  of  accounts,  the  Haupthuch  of  the 
Germans.  The  posting  of  the  monthly  totals  is  a  simple 
procedure,  and  then  the  ordinary  definition  of  a  Trial  Balance 
would  be  more  correct,  and  there  would  be  less  likelihood  of 


Bookkeeping  185 

omitting  the  cash  balance,  a  cause  of  prolific  worry  to  the 
beginner. 

INTRODUCTION   OF   SPECIAL   COLUMNS 

Special  columns  in  the  cash  book  offer  no  great  difl&culty. 
We  suggest  a  column  on  the  credit  side  for  expense  account 
at  first.  Direct  the  attention  to  the  cash  book  and  to  the 
fact  that,  say,  eight  separate  postings  to  expense  account 
were  made.  Next  ask  for  suggestions  to  simplify  the  work, 
referring  to  previous  simpHfications.  If  necessary,  hint  at 
the  second  money  column  which  had  previously  not  been 
used  at  all  except  for  closing  totals.  The  posting  of  the 
total  of  expense  and  its  addition  to  the  general  column  can 
be  handled  easily,  and  offers  no  difficulties. 

We  beheve  that  discount  on  sales  should  be  the  account 
for  which  the  next  special  column  should  be  introduced. 
The  process  has  been  indicated  in  connection  with  the  expense 
column.  The  matter  of  posting  alone  requires  special  con- 
sideration. Here  the  journal  form,  as  in  so  many  other  cases 
involving  bookkeeping  reasoning,  will  be  of  aid.  Consider 
the  first  item.  If  no  cash  book  had  been  used,  the  journal 
entry  for  the  transaction  would  have  been  of  the  following 
type: 

Cash 

Merchandise  Discount 
R.  Jones 

Evidently  Merchandise  Discount  account  is  to  be  debited. 
The  conclusion  is  thus  clearly  indicated :  the  total  of  the 
entire  column  is  to  be  posted  to  the  debit  side  of  the  account. 
In  this  connection,  it  is  often  the  case  that  some  student  thinks 
he  has  discovered  an  exception  to  what  he  will  probably  call 


i86     Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

the  rule  of  posting,  viz.,  items  from  the  debit  side  of  the  cash 
book  must  be  posted  to  the  credit  side  of  the  account  indi- 
cated.    A  little  questioning  will  soon  clear  up  the  doubt. 

CONTROLLING   ACCOUNTS 

It  would  be  well  for  the  teacher  who  is  not  familiar  with 
accounting  to  look  up  the  theory  of  controlling  accounts. 
The  advantage  of  this  device  need  not  be  enumerated  here. 
It  will  be  sufficient  to  suggest  that  the  need  and  method  of 
operating  these  accounts  may  easily  be  developed  by  employ- 
ing the  methods  previously  outlined.  The  subject  will  be 
treated  of  more  fully  in  the  next  chapter  dealing  with  Ac- 
counting. 

CLOSING  THE   BOOKS 

Most  teachers  find  the  closing  of  books  a  most  unsatis- 
factory series  of  lessons.  If  the  reader,  who  is  famihar  with 
the  teaching  of  bookkeeping,  stops  to  consider  the  problem 
for  a  moment,  he  will  find  in  the  apparent  difficulty  involved 
an  example  of  what  we  meant  in  one  of  the  earher  paragraphs 
by  the  unsatisfactoriness  of  copying  models  and  learning  by 
rote. 

Let  us  assume  that  the  pupils  are  already  famihar  with  the 
balancing  of  the  Cash  account  or  the  cash  book,  or  both,  and 
know  that  the  bringing  down  of  the  balance  is  a  matter  of 
convenience.  Also,  that  they  know  the  conventional  mean- 
ing of  the  single  line  (in  bookkeeping  the  sign  of  addition) 
and  the  double  line  (completion  and  extended  sign  of  equahty 
between  the  sides).  They  have  also  practised  the  conven- 
tion of  closing  on  the  same  line  by  keeping  their  rulers  fixed 
while  marking  the  fines  in  the  debit  and  credit  columns.  It 
is  quite  immaterial  whether  red  ink  or  black  ink  is  employed 


Bookkeeping  187 

in  the  ruling  process,  aside  from  the  aesthetics  of  the  question, 
for  there  is  a  noticeable  tendency  to  do  away  with  red  ink 
in  modern  commercial  houses. 

The  statements  should  be  before  the  class.  These  show 
the  condition  and  the  progress  of  the  business.  Let  the  class 
observe  that  the  proprietor's  account  does  not  agree  with  the 
present  worth.  In  order  to  reconcile  these  two  it  is  necessary 
to  add  the  net  gain  to  the  credit  side  of  this  account.  But 
how  shall  this  be  done?  Some  will  suggest  that  you  merely 
write  it  there.  How  about  disturbing  the  equality  between 
the  debit  and  the  credit  sides  as  revealed  by  the  Trial  Balance  ? 
In  this  way  show  the  need  of  some  systematic  way  of  getting 
the  ledger  to  show  the  condition  as  exhibited  outside  of  the 
books,  in  the  statements.  The  final  purpose  of  the  Merchan- 
dise account  is  to  show  the  profit  on  trading.  What  was  done 
with  this  gain  in  the  statement?  In  the  ledger,  we  must 
open  a  temporary  account  known  as  Loss  and  Gain,  to  which 
we  carry  the  separate  losses  and  gains  in  order  to  determine 
the  net  gain.  To  transfer  this  gain  from  the  Merchandise 
account  to  the  Loss  and  Gain  account  make  the  following 
journal  entry : 

Merchandise.  (To  transfer  the  gain  shown  by 

Loss  and  Gain  Merchandise    account,    to 

the  Loss  and  Gain  account.) 

If  Merchandise  Purchase  and  Merchandise  Sales  account 
were  used,  one  would  be  transferred  to  the  other  in  a  similar 
way. 

In  an  analogous  manner,  we  close  other  accovmts  showing 
losses  and  gains.  It  is  thus  seen  that  red-ink  entries  are  not 
necessary.     They  may  be  used,  of  course,  but  their  explana- 


i88     Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

tion  is  artificial  and  not  in  accord  with  modern  accounting 
principles  which  require  full  explanations  for  all  entries. 

The  Loss  and  Gain  account  now  shows  the  net  gain.  Who 
is  entitled  to  it  ?  How  can  it  be  transferred  to  the  proprietor's 
account?     Use  the  journal  entry  form,  the  question  suggests. 

Those  who  know  how  to  balance  a  Cash  account,  will  find 
no  difficulty  in  closing  the  proprietor's  account. 

When  inventories  are  given,  the  work  just  outlined  is  more 
complex,  but  the  principles  are  the  same. 

Not  much  has  been  said  thus  far  about  the  closing  of  per- 
sonal accounts.  Entirely  too  much  time  is  spent  on  this 
subject.  The  reasonably  extensive  business  experiences  of  the 
authors  incline  them  to  believe  that  very  much  less  of  such 
closing  is  required  in  business  than  would  be  indicated  by  the 
time  usually  devoted  to  it.  It  is  a  question  of  values.  We 
advocate  that  personal  accounts  be  not  closed  until  much 
later  in  the  course  than  is  usually  the  practice. 

DRAFTS 

Inasmuch  as  a  full  discussion  of  the  business  practice  side 
of  drafts  will  be  found  in  another  connection  (p.  138),  we  here 
assume  that  this  phase  of  the  subject  has  been  presented  before 
the  question  of  proper  bookkeeping  entries  arises. 

(A)  Bank  Draft.  —  Receipts  of  bank  drafts  are  handled 
just  as  checks  and  money  orders.  When  we  send  them,  the 
explanation  space  is  the  only  place  where  the  difference  be- 
tween such  a  remittance  and  a  check  is  shown.  The  charge, 
if  any,  is  debited  or  charged  to  Expense  account  or  to  Ex- 
change account  or  to  Collection  and  Exchange  account. 

(B)  Sight  drafts  drawn  by  us  or  on  us  offer  no  difficulty. 

(C)  Time  Drafts.  —  (i)  Drawn  by  us  in  our  favor  to  facili- 
tate collections. 


Bookkeeping  189 

This  is  equivalent  to  a  written  promise  to  pay  us  a  certain 
sum  of  money.  But  such  promises  are  called  Bills  or  Notes 
Receivable.     Hence  the  entry. 

(2)  Drawn  on  us  in  drawer's  favor.  These  are  equiva- 
lent to  Bills  or  Notes  Payable,  and  should  be  treated  accord- 
ingly. 

(3)  Drawn  by  us  in  favor  of  a  third  person.  Analysis  will 
disclose  that  this  transaction  is  equal  to  two  others ;  a  prom- 
issory note  received  by  us  from  the  drawee,  and  then  trans- 
ferred, by  indorsement,  to  the  payee.  Show  that  the  entries 
for  the  latter  transactions  include  a  debit  and  credit  of  the 
same  amount  to  Bills  Receivable  account,  and  that  as  these 
entries  just  cancel  each  other  there  remains  the  charge  to  the 
payee  and  the  credit  to  the  drawee  or  acceptor. 

(4)  Drawn  on  us  in  favor  of  a  third  person.  This  trans- 
action is  equivalent  to  No.  2  above.  Emphasize  the  fact  that 
the  payee  is  virtually  the  agent  of  the  drawer,  and  that  it  is 
immaterial  to  us  to  whom  the  actual  delivery  of  the  payment 
is  made,  provided  it  is  on  behalf  of  the  drawer.  An  analogous 
point  should  be  brought  out  in  connection  with  No.  3. 

As  an  aid  to  the  pupil's  understanding  of  three-party  drafts, 
questions  should  be  framed  directing  his  attention  to  the 
business  relationship  existing  between  the  parties  before  and 
after  acceptance.  A  good  drill  consists  of  requiring  the  en- 
tries for  all  the  parties  involved  at  the  time  the  draft  is  drawn, 
accepted,  discounted,  paid. 

EXERCISES    IN   THE   CONSTRUCTIVE   IMAGINATION 

Before  concluding  these  lessons,  we  wish  to  illustrate  how 
this  valuable  faculty  may  be  developed  in  the  bookkeeping 
room.  Only  a  few  examples  will  be  given  because  the  reader 
can  readily  think  of  others  for  himself. 


iQO     Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

Fill  in  the  explanations  for  the  following  entries : 

(a)  Expense        (b)  Expense  (c)  Expense 

Cash  Merchandise  Merchandise 

Cash 

(d)  Salary  (e)  Horses   &   Wagons     (J)  Cash 

Merchandise  Smith    &    Co.  Expense 

It  is  not  necessary  that  all  of  these  entries  be  the  result  of 
probable  transactions ;  it  is  an  exercise  sufficiently  potent  of 
good  if  the  students  utiUze  their  imagination  to  the  extent 
necessary  to  supply  the  explanations  called  for.  The  fact 
that  there  is  a  possibility  of  many  different  solutions  adds  to 
the  value  of  these  exercises. 

Another  set  consists  of  two  Balance  Sheets  at  the  end  of 
two  periods.  The  problem  is  to  find  what  tendency  the  busi- 
ness exhibits  by  the  changes  shown.  If  the  statements  are 
simple  enough,  this  exercise  does  not  trespass  on  the  domain 
of  elementary  accounting. 

Another  set  of  exercises  consists  of  the  setting  for  solution  of 
original  problems.  The  results  should  always  be  stated  in 
journal  form  because  of  the  tangibleness  of  such  entries,  and 
the  ease  with  which  they  may  be  transferred  to  the  special 
books.  A  few  suggestions  for  such  exercises  are  the  follow- 
ing: 

1.  A  partner  who  is  entitled  to  cash  salary,  but  who  does 
not  draw  it. 

2.  Donation  of  goods  to  some  charitable  institution. 

3.  A  customer  who  has  been  overcharged  requests  and  re- 
ceives an  allowance. 

4.  Where  controlling  accounts  (Accounts  Receivable  and 
Accounts  Payable)  are  kept,  purchasing  goods  from  a  customer 
to  fill  out  an  order. 


Bookkeeping  191 

5.  As  an  accommodation,  exchanging  of  checks  or  notes. 

6.  Goods  destroyed  by  tire  not  insured,  or  goods  stolen. 

SPECIAL  DEVICES 

The  successful  teacher  draws  upon  his  entire  world  experi- 
ence to  enrich  his  class-room  work.  Just  one  suggestion  to 
indicate  how  apparently  extraneous  matter  may  be  made  to 
serve  his  purposes.  In  his  college  mathematics  he  became 
familiar  with  graphic  algebra.  How  few  of  us  have  ever 
thought  of  utilizing  this  knowledge !  Yet  a  few  exercises  in 
plotting  curves  would  put  a  most  valuable  power  at  the  service 
of  our  pupils.  Their  familiarity  with  this  subject  would  en- 
able them  strikingly  to  illustrate  the  efficiency  of  salesmen,  the 
tendency  of  factory  costs,  the  progress  of  the  business  over  a 
period  of  years,  and  many  other  important  business  matters. 

THE   ETHICS    OF   BOOKKEEPING 

We  have  come  to  agree  that  every  oral  recitation,  and  almost 
all  written  work,  should  be  a  recitation  in  EngUsh.  We  have 
yet  to  learn  the  value  of  the  various  commercial  subjects  as 
indirect  means  of  moral  training.  A  single  illustration  must 
suffice  to  open  up  the  possibilities  of  bookkeeping  as  a  study 
which  has  its  informal  bearing  upon  the  moulding  of  the  ethical 
man.  Some  of  our  students  will  copy  from  their  neighbors 
(who  have  different  price  lists).  Some  of  them  have  been 
known  to  force  their  balance  !  But  some  subsequent  trans- 
action, some  later  statement,  will  reveal  an  inconsistency 
which  will  eventually  point  out  the  source  of  error  as  residing 
in  some  previous  careless  or  dishonest  step.  The  fault, 
whether  it  be  of  morals  or  of  the  will,  must  inevitably  cause 
trouble.  We  cannot  escape  it.  This  ethical  lesson  of  book- 
keeping is  made  available  in  the  class  room  sooner  or  later. 


192     Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

The  teacher  who  is  awake  to  his  full  duty  will  make  the  most 
of  his  opportunity. 

CONCLUDING   REMARKS   ON   SPECIAL   METHODS 

{A)  The  Class-room  Recitation.  —  Inasmuch  as  some  part  of 
the  work  in  bookkeeping  must  be  done  at  home,  it  becomes 
of  moment  to  decide  what  division  shall  be  made  with  reference 
to  class  recitation  and  home  tasks.  As  a  general  proposition 
all  new  work  should  be  developed  in  school.  We  know  of  no 
greater  incentive  to  serious  effort  on  the  part  of  the  student 
than  that  which  comes  from  the  emulation  fostered  by  the 
oral  recitation.  We  advocate  that  the  problems  involved  in 
the  transactions  should  be  solved  by  the  pupils  at  home  or  on 
the  blackboard,  and  that  these  solutions  should  be  criticised 
by  the  class.  The  writing  up  of  the  books  could  very  prop- 
erly be  done  at  home,  subsequently.  No  extended  comment 
need  be  made,  we  think,  regarding  the  necessity  for  some  in- 
dividual instruction  in  this  subject.  We  venture  to  predict, 
however,  that  the  vicious  practice  of  all  individual  work,  so 
long  deemed  the  only  means  of  imparting  a  knowledge  of 
accounts,  will  soon  give  way  to  the  orderly  class-room  method 
which  obtains  in  other  subjects  of  the  curriculum. 

{B)  Preparation  at  Home.  —  As  was  stated  under  the  last 
heading,  the  home  is  the  place  par  excellence  for  the  entering 
of  transactions,  the  posting,  and  most  of  the  routine  work.  It 
is  true,  of  course,  that  all  home  work  is  open  to  the  possibility 
of  fraud.  But  it  has  been  our  experience  that  the  develop- 
ment of  a  proper  esprit  de  corps,  and  the  right  kind  of  a  talk 
or  two,  will  remedy  the  potential  evil  of  copying.  Whenever 
it  is  expected,  and  when  other  means  fail,  a  little  skilful  ques- 
tioning on  the  work  not  done  honestly  will  reveal  the  futility 
of   the  practice   and   discourage  it.     The  general  principle 


Bookkeeping  193 

which  should  decide  the  teacher  in  the  separation  of  home 
from  class  tasks  has  already  been  given.  It  may  be  restated 
in  a  different  form.  The  recitation  period  is  too  valuable 
to  be  taken  up  for  work  which  may  just  as  well  be  done  away 
from  the  instructor's  supervision.  But  nothing  that  has  been 
said  here  must  be  construed  as  in  opposition  to  the  doctrine 
that  eternal  vigilance  is  necessary  in  order  to  keep  our  students 
in  the  right  path.  Their  work  must  be  inspected  constantly, 
so  as  to  nip  carelessness  in  the  bud  and  error  in  the  making, 
for  all  of  us  recognize  how  much  harder  it  is  to  turn  over  a 
new  leaf  than  to  commence  properly. 

(C)  Reviews.  —  Teachers  have  often  admitted  that  reviews 
are  so  trying  and  hard,  that  they  either  set  examinations  in 
Heu  of  them  or  else  just  continue  the  course.  But  reviews 
are  pedagogic  necessities ;  so,  because  of  their  exceedingly 
great  value  to  clinch  the  essentials  of  a  series  of  lessons  and  to 
enable  the  instructor  to  know  how  effective  his  teaching  has 
been,  this  chapter  would  be  incomplete  without  some  con- 
sideration of  the  topic. 

Let  us  first  distinguish  between  quizzes  and  reviews.  The 
former  consists  of  a  series  of  questions  on  work  previously 
taught,  arranged  in  any  manner,  without  any  necessary  recog- 
nition of  that  which  is  of  permanent  value ;  and,  except  in 
professional  schools,  it  is  usually  associated  with  coaching 
and  cramming.  Even  under  the  most  ideal  conditions  its 
chief  function  is  to  test.  On  the  other  hand,  the  review  is  a 
most  important  aid  to  the  teacher.  It  enables  him,  by  a 
series  of  well-planned  questions,  graded  in  the  order  of  logical 
development,  to  emphasize  the  principles  of  a  topic,  and  to 
drive  home  the  general  ideas  connected  with  a  subject  rather 
than  the  details.  It  is  the  means  whereby  the  last  appeal  to 
the  permanent  memory  is  made ;  it  aims  to  bind  the  associa- 


194     Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

tion  processes  in  the  final  attempt  to  make  this  matter  an 
organized  part  of  the  mind.  Hence,  it  is  not  enough  to  plan  a 
series  of  questions  to  which  answers  are  expected  ;  the  teacher 
must  so  elucidate  these  replies  that  the  subject-matter  is  as- 
similated by  the  class. 

(D)  Examinations.  —  The  subject  of  formal  examinations 
has  been  much  discussed  of  late.  Many  arguments  have  been 
advanced  against  them ;  probably  as  many  have  been  offered 
in  their  favor.  The  evils  of  cramming  may  be  avoided,  and 
as  some  sort  of  tests  are  almost  universally  accepted  as  nec- 
essary, it  behooves  us  to  prepare  such  papers  as  will  minimize 
the  bad  features  and  embody  all  of  the  good  ones. 

Teachers  of  bookkeeping  are  fortunate  in  that  their  sub- 
ject lends  itself  to  examination  which  really  tends  toward 
development  of  power  on  the  part  of  the  student.  It  is  well 
to  have  some  examinations  come  unexpectedly  so  as  to  pre- 
pare pupils  for  the  emergency  calls  of  real  life,  but  with  these 
we  do  not  now  concern  ourselves. 

Formal  examinations  should  come  after  reviews.  They 
then  make  possible  the  expression  without  which  the  impres- 
sion is  always  more  or  less  vague  and  indefinite.  In  this 
sense,  they  are  a  positive  teaching  aid.  The  questions  should 
not  consist  of  definitions  and  rules,  because  preparation  for 
these  foster  the  cramming  process.  They  should  consist  of 
problems  which  require  real  thought.  For  example,  the  prep- 
aration of  statements  from  trial  balances  calls  for  discrim- 
inations and  comparisons.  Such  questions  as  "  Why  does 
the  expense  account  show  a  debit  balance?  "  is  of  greater 
value  than  "  Name  two  accounts  which  always  show  a  debit 
balance."  The  first  calls  for  reasons,  the  second  may  be 
guessed  at  or  easily  crammed  for.  Instead  of  setting  questions 
on  journalizing  transactions  which  are  familiar,  make  pupils 


Bookkeeping  195 

apply  their  general  and  fundamental  knowledge  by  proposing 
such  work  as  that  contained  in  the  section,  Exercises  in  the 
Constructive  Imagination,  page  189. 

The  relative  weight  which  the  final  examination  results 
should  have  in  comparison  with  that  allowed  for  class  recita- 
tion and  book  work  cannot  be  decided  easily.  It  appears  to 
us  that  it  is  unwise  to  give  the  former  greater  importance  than 
is  attached  to  the  term's  work.  But  as  this  subject  is  more  a 
matter  of  school  policy  than  of  class  management,  it  is  per- 
haps better  not  to  discuss  it  here. 

SYLLABUS 

The  following  syllabus  is  offered  as  a  suggested  course  of 
study  for  schools  which  offer  the  course  outhned  on  page  53. 
It  is  not  expected  that  every  teacher  will  wish  to  follow  the 
order  here  outhned,  but  it  may  be  said  in  passing,  that  the 
sequence  is  the  one  we  decided  upon  after  ample  experimen- 
tation. Reviews  and  tests  are  not  indicated,  because  many 
conditions  arise  which  make  advance  plans  for  them  inap- 
pHcable. 

It  is  presumed  that  exercises  involving  the  topics  to  be 
studied  are  available  in  the  form  of  text-books  or  otherwise. 

Exercises  requiring  special  journal  entries  for  unusual  trans- 
actions, and  for  such  matters  as  consignment,  shipments,  etc., 
are  not  inserted,  because  it  was  deemed  best  to  leave  this 
matter  to  the  ingenuity  of  the  individual  teacher. 

{A)  Cash  Account.  Debit  and  credit.  The  account.  Merchandise 
and  expense  accounts.  The  ledger.  Principles  of  double  entry  book- 
keeping. Proprietor's  account.  Trial  balance  of  totals.  Buying  on 
account.  Cash  payments  in  settlement.  Selling  on  account.  Cash 
payments  in  settlement.  Buying  and  selling  on  account  with  part  pay- 
ments and  subsequent  settlements.  Trial  balance  of  differences.  Exer- 
cise in  profit  and  loss.    Exercise  in  present  worth.    Relation  between 


196     Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

these  two.  The  journal.  Posting.  Exercise  in  profit  and  loss,  etc., 
involving  merchandise  inventory.  Notes  Payable  account.  Notes 
Receivable  account.  Discount  account  (Interest  and  Discount  account). 
Compound  journal  entries.  Merchandise  Discount  account.  Inven- 
tories involving  expense  accounts.  Closing  of  books.  Sales  book. 
Cash  book.  Check  book.  Bank  Pass  book.  Bank  drafts  received  and 
given.  Special  columns  in  cash  book:  (i)  Expense,  (2)  Merchandise 
Discount  on  sales,  (3)  Merchandise  Discount  on  purchases.  Special 
column  for  cash  sales  in  sales  book.  Bill  book.  Two-party  draft  drawn 
on  us.     Drawn  by  us.     Three-party  draft  drawn  on  us.     Drawn  by  us. 

It  is  our  belief  that  the  work  thus  far  should  not  involve 
the  *'  budget "  or  "  vouchers."  The  presentation  of  the  above, 
with  time  for  review,  and  with  the  use  of  practice  sets  such 
as  previously  outlined,  should  take  from  five  to  six  weeks  of 
the  time  shown  for  bookkeeping  in  the  second  year  of  the 
course  outlined  on  page  53.  Though  we  recognize  the  value 
of  the  pedagogic  doctrine  which  emphasizes  the  learn-to-do-by- 
doing  slogan,  we  are  not  carried  away  by  its  pleasing  sound. 
Our  experience  justifies  the  emphatic  stand  we  take  against 
introducing  the  vouchers  too  early  in  the  course.  Nor  will 
the  pupil  lose  very  much  by  not  having  the  business  forms  at 
once ;  for  aside  from  the  compensating  advantage  accruing  to 
him  from  the  concentration  on  the  bookkeeping  alone,  it  is 
to  be  remembered  that  he  has  had  much  practice  in  the  very 
forms  included  in  the  budget. 

A  good  set,  calUng  for  the  use  of  all  ordinary  business  papers 
involved,  should  next  be  worked.  It  should  not  take  more 
than  three  weeks  at  the  utmost.  That  this  period  is  suffi- 
cient should  be  clear  to  those  who  recall  our  tests  of  a  good 
set.  Is  it  not  a  fact  that  ten  invoices  carefully  handled  are 
as  efficient  as  forty- three  ? 

(5)  Single  Entry.  Books  used.  Show  dependence  on  double  entry. 
Proof  balance   (instead  of  trial  balance).     Change  to  double  entry. 


Bookkeeping  197 

Comparison  between  the  two  systems.     No  business  forms  need  be 
employed. 

(C)  Partnership.  Historical  introduction.  Importance  of  articles 
of  agreement.  Opening  entries:  (i)  Cash  investment,  (2)  complex 
investment,  (3)  combining  two  single  proprietor  concerns  (neglect 
closing  entries) .  Salaries  of  partners.  Personal  drawings.  Dissolution. 
Change  from  single  proprietorship  to  partnership.  Admission  of  another 
partner.  Here  introduce  Accounts  Receivable  and  Accounts  Payable, 
the  special  columns  involved,  and  the  special  ledgers. 

iP)  Corporations.  Historical  introduction.  Opening  entries  involv- 
ing such  accounts  as  Subscriptions,  Capital  Stock,  Unsubscribed  Stock. 
Change  of  single  proprietorship  to  corporation.  Change  from  partner- 
ship to  corporation :  (i)  Opening  of  new  books,  (2)  closing  old  books 
(skip  to  senior  term).  Transfer  of  stock.  Dividends.  Introduction  of 
new  books  involved.     (See  law  of  your  own  state  for  essentials.) 

After  the  first  business  practice  set,  such  additional  sets 
should  involve  special  kinds  of  business.  Two  general 
principles  should  decide  our  choice  : 

{a)  A  business  of  such  a  general  nature  that  its  principles 
once  grasped  become  available  as  an  easy  introduction  to 
another. 

{h)  The  special  needs  of  the  locality  or  of  the  pupils  in  the 
class. 

According  to  the  selective  principle  involved  in  "a,"  a 
retail  trading  concern,  such  as  a  grocery  or  provision  house, 
should  be  chosen.  In  addition,  the  books  of  a  wholesale 
concern,  such  as  a  dry-goods  dealer,  should  be  studied.  This 
should  be  followed  by  a  set  illustrating  the  contracting  busi- 
ness, —  for  example,  that  of  a  builder.  The  last  of  the  gen- 
eral sets  should  involve  some  manufacturing  line,  so  as  to 
introduce  the  elements  of  cost  accounts.  Here  it  may  not  be 
amiss  to  caution  the  inexperienced  teacher  against  giving  all 
of  the  so-called  voucher  system  of  accounting  as  is  shown  in 
a  number  of  the  more  popular  texts.     Any  acquaintanceship 


198     Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

with  actual  business  conditions  will  reveal  the  tendency  to 
reduce  much  of  the  work  shown  by  the  book  vouchers,  and, 
moreover,  the  subject  is  better  treated  in  the  accounting 
course. 

Our  final  word  is  in  regard  to  the  special  sets  which  the 
school  may  offer.  It  is  obvious  that  the  demands  of  every 
one  cannot  be  suppHed.  The  general  principle,  however,  is 
simple  enough.  Decide  upon  the  "  sets  "  you  can  offer,  and 
allow  them  in  groups;  for  in  this  advanced  work,  individual 
instruction  should  have  its  fullest  scope.  The  material  now 
generally  available  will  permit  the  giving  of  courses  in  banking, 
stock  brokerage,  professional  accounts,  the  accounts  of  trus- 
tees and  executors,  commission  and  department  store  account- 
ing. Finally,  some  member  of  the  section  engaged  on  a 
special  set  should  report  on  its  salient  features  to  the  entire 
class. 

SUMMARY 

It  is  wrong  to  assume  that  because  the  principles  of  a  sub- 
ject remain  unchanged  that  the  practices  growing  out  of 
principles  are  static.  Bookkeeping,  in  order  to  meet  the  re- 
quirements of  modern  business,  is  undergoing  rapid  changes. 
The  modern  teacher,  in  order  to  remain  efficient,  must  keep 
abreast  of  the  times.  But  though  the  forms  of  books  and  the 
kinds  of  accounts  may  undergo  change,  the  basic  aim  involved 
in  the  teaching  of  bookkeeping  is  quite  fixed.  As  a  matter  of 
fact,  the  first  problem  which  a  successful  teacher  must  solve 
concerns  itself  with  the  purpose,  aim,  or  motive  for  the  teach- 
ing of  bookkeeping. 

Modern  educators  are  agreed  that  not  because  of  its  utili- 
tarian value  alone,  but  also  because  of  its  disciplinary  value, 
bookkeeping  deserves  the  position  of  major  subject  in  the 
commercial  course  which  it  now  occupies. 


Bookkeeping  199 

Most  of  the  present  chapter  is  devoted  to  a  discussion  of 
the  methods  of  presenting  the  subject  of  bookkeeping.  The 
deductive  method  proved  stultifying,  but  the  inductive  was 
found  most  fruitful  of  good  results.  Rules  should  be  evolved 
by  a  process  of  discovery,  and  mere  memoriter  work  should 
be  discouraged.  "  That  which  one  understands,  one  need 
not   memorize." 

A  number  of  model  lessons  are  presented.  These  take  up, 
in  outHne,  the  first  lesson  in  bookkeeping,  debit  and  credit 
and  double  entry  ;  the  trial  balance ;  statements  ;  the  use  of 
formulas;  special  books,  and  special  columns  in  books  of 
original  entry.  Exercises  in  the  constructive  imagination, 
the  use  of  certain  special  devices,  and  the  ethical  value  of 
bookkeeping  instruction  are  included  in  the  chapter.  The 
syllabus  which  concludes  the  chapter  will  be  found  to  meet 
the  requirements  of  the  best  business  courses. 

EXERCISES 
GROUP  ONE 

1.  In  presenting  the  subject  of  bookkeeping,  what  motivating  devices 
would  you  employ  ?  (How  would  you  show  that  the  subject  is  worth 
while  ?) 

2.  Discuss  the  relative  merits  of  the  account  method  verstis  the  joiurnal 
method  of  introducing  bookkeeping. 

3.  How  would  you  employ  the  blackboard  during  the  bookkeeping 
recitation  ? 

4.  In  selecting  the  text-book,  what  features  would  appeal  to  you 
most? 

5.  What  use  would  you  make  of  a  text-book  in  bookkeeping  ? 

6.  Prepare  an  outline  for  an  oral  review  of  the  Sales  Book. 

7.  Discuss  the  value  of  formulas,  with  special  reference  to  book- 
keeping. 

8.  Write  an  essay  of  about  two  hundred  and  fifty  words  on  the 
ethical  value  of  bookkeeping. 


200     Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

9.  Which  do  you  favor,  individual  or  class  instruction  ?  Give  your 
reasons  in  full. 

10.   Discuss  the  budget  or  business  practice  method  of  bookkeeping. 
State  its  strong  points  and  its  weak  points. 

GROUP  TWO 

1.  Outline  the  first  ten  lessons  in  bookkeeping.  Present  a  plan  in 
sufficient  detail  to  enable  a  young  teacher  to  conduct  a  class  in  accordance 
therewith. 

2.  Assume  that  a  beginner's  class  was  divided  into  three  groups  of 
fifteen  pupils  each,  and  develop  a  plan  whereby  all  pupils  would  progress 
as  a  unit,  while  weak  pupils  would  receive  special  attention  and  strong 
pupils  would  obtain  sufficient  drill. 

3.  Outline,  in  full  detail,  a  lesson  on  the  Cash  Book. 

4.  Criticise  the  syllabus  in  bookkeeping  of  any  high  school  with  which 
you  are  familiar,  and  suggest  remedies. 

5.  As  a  result  of  a  survey  of  the  New  York  public  school  system  the 
Hanus  Committee  contributed  a  number  of  reports.  Among  these, 
the  Thompson  Report  deals  with  commercial  education.  Obtain  a  copy 
of  this  report,  and  apply  its  conclusions  to  the  school  system  with  which 
you  are  connected. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Bogle,  A.  M.,  Comprehensive  Bookkeeping.    New  York,  Macmillan  Co., 

1905. 
Miner,  G.  W.,  Bookkeeping.     New  York,  Ginn  &  Co.,  191 2. 
Montgomery,  J.  L.,  Modern  Bookkeeping  and  Business  Practice.     New 

York,  C.  E.  Merrill  Co.,  1906. 
Neal  and  Cragin,  Modern  Illustrative  Bookkeeping.     New  York,  Amer. 

Book  Co.,  1911. 
RowE,    H.    M.,    Commercial   and  Industrial  Bookkeeping.     Baltimore, 

H.  M.  Rowe  Co.,  1899. 


CHAPTER  VII 

Accounting 

Comparatively  few  people  are  able  to  distinguish  between 
bookkeeping  and  accounting.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  two 
terms  are  very  often  employed  synonymously  by  the  business 
man.  This  confusion  has  been  aided  by  those  who  should 
know  better,  as  witness  the  self-styled  "  expert  accountant," 
"  pubHc  accountant,"  and  other  such  appellations  employed 
by  bookkeepers  who  wish  to  lend  the  impression  that  they  are 
as  quahfied  as  the  certified  public  accountant  whose  abiHty 
has  been  attested  to  by  state  officials  competent  to  pass 
judgment  in  such  matters.  But  despite  the  absence  of  a 
clearly  defined  fine  of  demarcation  between  the  work  of  the 
bookkeeper  and  the  sphere  of  the  real  accountant,  an  attempt 
will  be  made  to  clarify  our  ideas  regarding  these  terms.  We 
quote  from  a  recent  pamphlet :  ^ 

What  is  meant  by  an  Accountant? 

He  is  not  an  expert  bookkeeper,  though  every  accountant  knows 
bookkeeping  thoroughly.  He  devises  and  installs  systems  of  accounts, 
and,  having  done  so,  the  bookkeeper  continues  the  task  of  "keeping" 
the  books  —  that  is,  recording  the  transactions  of  the  business.  Then, 
the  accountant  reviews  or  audits  the  work  to  establish  its  correctness. 
In  times  of  uncertainty,  or  whenever  unusual  conditions  arise,  he  is  called 
upon  to  act  as  an  investigator  and  as  a  commercial  or  business  counsellor. 

Another  way  of  approaching  the  subject  under  review,  that 
is,  the  difference  between  bookkeeping  and  accounting,  is  to 

1  "  Accountancy  and  the  Business  Professions,"  by  Joseph  J.  Klein,  prepared 
for  the  High  School  Teachers'  Association  of  New  York  City,  New  York,  1911. 


202     Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education  '■ 

consider  the  points  of  view  from  which  the  bookkeeper  and 
the  accountant  each  regards  the  transaction  arising  for  treat- 
ment. The  bookkeeper  knowing  that  the  basic  principle  of 
his  science  is  the  maintenance  of  debit  and  credit  equality, 
is  satisfied  by  an  entry  for  any  given  transaction  which  results 
in  such  an  equation.  The  accountant,  while  also  observing 
the  fundamental  principle  of  double  entry,  goes  a  step  further. 
He  not  only  insists  upon  the  equality,  but  also  upon  the 
charge  or  credit  to  the  correct  account  or  class  of  accounts. 
In  other  words,  the  accountant  is  continually  on  the  alert  for 
a  distinction  between  capital  and  income.  An  illustration 
or  two  will  be  of  assistance  now.  After  using  a  shop  for  a 
time,  it  is  found  that  it  requires  painting.  The  expenditure 
amounts  to  $200.00.  The  bookkeeper  would  credit  cash, 
and,  in  many  cases,  would  be  satisfied  with  a  debit  to  some 
such  capital  or  real  account  as  Building,  Plant,  or  Real  Estate. 
The  charge  of  the  accountant  would  be  to  an  income  or  nomi- 
nal account  as  Repairs  or  Expense.  One  other  example  may 
prove  profitable.  The  cost  of  shoeing  or  stabling  horses  is 
sometimes  charged  to  an  account  of  the  form  Horses  and 
Wagons,  whereas  it  should  be  entered  in  the  Stable  Expenses 
account. 

This  distinction  between  capital  and  income  is  of  prime 
importance.  It  has  been  made  the  subject  of  legislation  by 
public  service  boards  and  railway  commissions.  The  con- 
fusion of  classification  has  enabled  bankrupt  corporations 
to  declare  dividends,  has  helped  to  create  so-called  secret 
reserves,  and,  when  due  to  ignorance,  has  been  known  to  lead 
to  further  loss  in  ventures  which  should  have  been  discon- 
tinued long  before. 

The  failure  clearly  to  differentiate  between  these  two  im- 
portant divisions  of  accounts  may  be  understood  in  another 


Accounting  203 

way.  Inasmuch  as  the  bookkeeper  aims  at  a  trial  balance 
while  the  accountant  works  for  the  balance  sheet,  we  can 
easily  see  why  it  is  that  the  former  often  errs  in  the  manner 
indicated.  A  charge  to  an  incorrect  account  will  not  be  dis- 
closed by  the  trial  balance,  but  will  make  a  difference  in  the 
showing  of  the  amount  of  profit  for  the  period  under  review, 
and  therefore  on  the  balance  sheet.  We  may  thus  sum  up  the 
great  distinction  between  bookkeeping  and  accounting  as 
residing  in  a  difference  in  the  ends  aimed  at,  —  the  former 
striving  for  a  trial  balance  and  the  latter  for  a  balance  sheet. 
Quite  unconsciously,  too,  the  texts  on  our  subject  corrobo- 
rate our  conclusions.  Elementary  bookkeeping  books  almost 
invariably  illustrate  by  means  of  journal,  or  what  is  prac- 
tically the  same  in  result,  by  means  of  ledger  entries ;  Pro- 
fessor Hatfield,  in  his  remarkable  work  on  Modern  Accounting, 
adheres  to  balance-sheet  results  throughout. 

We  recall  that  not  so  very  long  ago  it  was  held  that  when  a 
town  or  county  had  made  provisions  for  a  free  elementary 
school  education,  it  had  cancelled  all  obligations  in  one  direc- 
tion. High  schools  and  colleges  were  only  for  those  who  were 
able  to  pay  for  tuition.  In  this  matter  of  free  education  a 
great  change  has  come  over  the  country.  Many  communities 
provide  free  college  opportunities,  though  sentiment  is  not  yet 
universal  in  this  matter.  Industrial  education,  together  with 
a  reaHzation  that  a  country  can  make  no  better  investment 
than  in  a  general  educational  upUft,  has  paved  the  way  for 
inclusion  in  our  general  scheme  of  free  education,  of  subjects 
which  can  be  applied  to  the  earning  of  a  Hvehhood.  It  is 
true  that  not  many  communities  offer  free  professional  train- 
ing except  for  teachers,  nor  do  we  stand  ready  to  advocate 
what  is  apparently  a  radical  departure  from  current  practice. 
But  we  must  give  some  attention  to  the  tendency  to  modify 


204     Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

the  high  school  curriculum  so  as  to  emphasize  more  largely 
industrial  and  commercial  training. 

Notwithstanding  the  fact  that  many  private  schools  teach 
bookkeeping  and  other  business  subjects,  many  cities  and 
towns  feel  justified  in  offering  what  at  first  sight  appears  a 
dupUcation  of  these  private  activities.  That  the  duplication 
is  not  real  is  known  to  all  who  are  in  a  position  to  compare 
the  cultural  and  practical  work  of  the  modern  high  school  with 
the  narrow  technical  courses  of  most  private  business  schools. 

But  though  no  defence  is  any  longer  necessary  on  behalf  of 
bookkeeping  as  a  proper  subject  of  instruction  in  the  free  high 
school,  does  the  argument  apply  to  accounting  as  well?  Yes 
and  no.  It  would  not  apply  to  a  professional  course  in  ac- 
counting for  a  reason  which  the  authors  do  not  personally 
sympathize  with,  but  which  excludes  courses  in  law,  medicine, 
and  engineering,  for  example,  from  our  free-school  systems. 
But  a  one-year  course  in  accounting,  such  as  outlined  in  our 
suggested  syllabus,  cannot  be  excluded  on  the  ground  that  it 
is  professional.  Just  as  communities  feel  justified  in  offering 
work  in  commercial  law,  physiology  and  hygiene,  and  in  the 
elements  of  mechanics  or  drafting,  they  are  also  justified  in 
offering  the  course  in  accounting  which  we  suggest  for  the  last 
year  of  the  high  school  course. 

The  reasons,  then,  for  the  inclusion  of  accounting  in  the 
curriculum  may  be  summarized  both  negatively  and  posi- 
tively. In  the  first  case,  precedent  exists  for  the  giving  of 
such  work  in  the  fact  that  many  localities  are  already  engaged 
upon  similar  work  bearing  a  like  relationship  to  corresponding 
professions  as  does  tliis  one  to  public  accounting.  The  posi- 
tive argument  is  by  far  the  stronger,  and  would  exist  even  in 
the  absence  of  a  pronounced  tendency  in  the  direction  of  a 
more  liberal  poHcy  toward  universal  education  at  the  common 


Accounting  205 

expense.  Germany  has  shown  how  general  training  in  all 
practical  lines  reacts  to  the  advantage  of  the  community. 
In  a  thousand  and  one  ways  would  the  general  understanding 
of  accounting  react  to  the  country's  good.  The  examples 
which  suggest  themselves  would  carry  us  too  far  afield.  A 
few  must  suffice  us.  Such  training  would  do  much  to  decrease 
the  number  of  dupes  who  are  annually  ensnared  by  mean- 
ingless statements  and  prospectuses  issued  by  fraudulent 
mercenary  operators  and  other  schemers.  In  civic  progress, 
too,  the  beneficial  results  would  be  felt.  The  demand  for 
proper  municipal  accounting  would  soon  become  too  insistent 
and  impatient  to  be  longer  ignored,  and  the  responsibility  of 
public  officials  could  then  be  more  accurately  and  correctly 
gauged. 

If  it  is  now  clear  that  accounting  should  be  included  in  the 
high  school  curriculum,  and  if,  furthermore,  its  great  impor- 
tance has  been  established,  why  should  it  not  be  offered  rather 
in  the  first  year  of  the  course  than  in  the  last?  This  question 
might  be  asked  us  by  those  familiar  with  the  fact  that  over 
50%  of  those  who  enroll  in  our  public  high  schools  drop  out 
by  the  end  of  the  freshman  term.  Obviously,  accounting 
cannot  be  studied  without  an  understanding  of  bookkeeping, 
so  that  this  prerequisite  imposes  the  necessity  for  relegating  the 
study  of  the  more  advanced  topic  to  a  later  period  of  school 
fife.  Moreover,  an  appreciative  understanding  of  account- 
ing presupposes  a  certain  maturity  not  present  in  boys  and 
girls  prior  to  about  their  senior  year  of  the  high  school  course. 

ReaHzing  that  the  distinction  between  bookkeeping  and  ac- 
counting is  sufficiently  real  as  to  warrant  separate  treatment 
of  each,  and  having  estabhshed  the  fact  that  the  latter  subject 
should  follow  the  former,  a  concluding  line  of  inquiry  remains 
for  treatment.     This  final  division   of   the  present  chapter 


2o6     Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

is  to  discuss  the  subject-matter  of  accounting  suitable  for 
high  school  purposes,  and  its  method  of  presentation.  We 
shall  first  outline  what  we  believe  to  be  the  proper  content 
of  the  course,  and  then  treat  of  the  methodology  involved. 

Balance  sheets  and  various  statements  should  be  studied 
intensively.  The  distinction  between  capital  and  income 
should  be  emphasized.  Single  entry  should  be  contrasted 
with  double  entry,  and  the  change  from  the  first  system  to 
the  second  should  be  assigned  as  an  exercise.  The  changes 
from  single  proprietorship  to  partnership  and  from  both  to 
the  corporate  form  of  organization,  together  with  the  organi- 
zation of  new  corporations,  should  occupy  a  large  part  of  the 
time  apportioned  to  this  course.  The  principles  underlying 
controlUng  accounts  should  be  thoroughly  mastered.  State- 
ment of  affairs  and  the  simple  proceedings  connected  with 
bankruptcy  should  also  receive  attention.  Cost  accounting 
should  be  treated  in  an  elementary  way,  while  the  accounting 
of  executors  and  of  social  or  other  organizations  should  not 
be  ignored. 

It  is  believed  that  what  has  just  been  so  briefly  outHned 
should  form  the  maximum  limits  of  a  course  for  high  school 
pupils.  The  understanding  of  the  reason  involved  rather 
than  the  ability  to  reproduce  forms  should  be  the  criterion  of 
success  in  this  work.  Less  work  more  intensely  pursued  and 
more  thoroughly  mastered,  rather  than  more  work  generally 
treated,  constitute  a  safe  guiding  motive. 

Now  how  shall  the  subject-matter  be  presented  so  as  to 
realize  the  ideals  we  have  set  before  ourselves?  In  order  to 
approach  the  methodology  properly,  it  is  well  to  consider  two 
points ;  namely,  the  cahbre  of  our  pupils  and  the  aim  of  our 
instruction.  We  realize  that  the  student  of  accounting  has 
already  had  two  years  of  bookkeeping,  during  which  time  he 


Accounting  207 

became  familiar  with  the  principle  of  double  entry,  with  the 
detailed  operations  involved  in  the  organization,  construction, 
and  dissolution  of  simple  concerns,  and  with  the  drawing  up 
of  business  and  financial  statements.  Unfortunately,  the 
very  nature  of  the  situation  precludes  the  possibility  of  a 
thorough  grasp  of  all  the  work  involved ;  but,  more  happily, 
it  will  be  found  that  the  student's  attrition  with  the  items 
handled  has  left  him  a  residuum  upon  which  we  may  safely 
rely  and  which  we  may  confidently  employ  as  a  foundation 
for  the  superstructure  of  accounting.  The  aim  we  have  al- 
ready developed  at  sufficient  length,  so  we  need  only  recapit- 
ulate it  in  the  briefest  terms,  —  a  desire  to  understand  the 
purpose  of  accounts,  the  interrelationship  of  accounts,  and 
the  abihty  to  read  and  prepare  the  more  ordinary  business 
statements.  And  as  a  final  word  regarding  the  aim  of  the 
course,  we  must  include  a  conscious  desire  on  our  part  to  in- 
still a  longing  for  further  study  to  the  end  that  our  graduates 
shall  not  content  themselves  with  being  mere  cogs  in  the  great 
office  machine  of  commerce  and  industry,  but  that  they  strive 
to  attain  the  higher  possibilities  involved  in  accountancy  as 
a  profession. 

METHODOLOGY 

Just  as  it  was  found  impossible  to  treat  fully  of  all  the  details 
in  the  course  in  any  subject,  so  it  is  impractical  to  attempt  a 
complete  compendium  of  method  for  all  the  topics  included 
in  this  subject.  We  have  already  suggested  how  to  develop 
the  important  difference  between  capital  and  income,  and  we 
now  leave  the  subject  by  indicating  the  conclusion  resulting 
from  a  failure  so  to  differentiate.  This  conclusion  differs 
somewhat  from  the  more  general  and  more  philosophical  one 
previously  arrived  at,  but  it  is  of  more  service  for  the  purposes 
of  the  high  school  pupil.     Were  we,  for  example,  to  charge 


2o8    Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

the  cost  of  each  year's  painting  to  the  Building  account  or  the 
amount  of  each  month's  Horseshoeing  or  horse  stabling  to  the 
Horse  and  Wagon  account,  it  is  readily  seen  that  the  respective 
assets  would  grow  more  valuable  as  the  building  grew  more 
dilapidated  and  old  and  as  the  horses  became  aged  and  feeble. 
This  form  of  attack  is  similar  to  the  rcductio  ad  absurdum  of 
geometry,  and  may  be  developed  by  Socratic  questioning. 

BALANCE   SHEET 

The  reader  is  now  asked  to  consider  the  balance  sheet. 
Two  important  points  are  selected  for  present  treatment. 
One  deals  with  the  reason  for  calling  the  statement  a  balance 
sheet,  the  other  with  the  need  of  segregating  the  individual 
items  according  to  some  general  plan. 

Select  a  trial  balance  for  discussion.  Assign  as  an  exercise 
the  closing  of  the  corresponding  books.  This  had  resulted  in 
the  elimination  of  all  the  nominal  (loss  and  gain)  accounts, 
the  addition  to  or  deduction  from  the  capital  accounts  of  the 
net  profit  or  net  loss,  and  the  addition  of  certain  real  accounts 
(asset  and  liability  inventory  items)  which  were  absent,  or, 
at  least  not  present  in  exactly  the  same  way,  previously. 
Now  assign  as  an  additional  exercise  the  taking  of  a  trial 
balance,  often  styled  a  "  proof  balance  "  in  the  elementary 
texts.  If  the  work  has  been  correctly  performed,  the  last 
list  of  balances  will  reveal  a  debit  total  exactly  equal  to  the 
credit  total.  A  comparison  between  these  balances  and  those 
contained  in  the  so-called  "  Statement  of  Assets  and  Li- 
abilities," which  should  also  have  been  prepared,  will  show 
a  one-to-one  correspondence  throughout.  It  should  not  be 
difficult  now  to  recognize  the  practical  identity  of  the  balance 
sheet  and  the  statement.  The  terminology,  too,  should  now 
be  perfectly   clear :     the  balance   sheet   contained    all    the 


Accounting 


209 


balances,  hence  it  is  a  "  balance  sheet."  The  trial  balance  is 
a  list  of  all  the  balances,  after  posting,  but  before  the  books 
have  been  closed.  The  balance  sheet  is  a  Hst  of  all  the 
balances  after  closing  the  books. 

Having  established  the  rationale  for  the  term,  it  is  quite 
seasonable  to  consider  the  arrangement  of  the  items  on  the 
balance  sheet.  A  simple  illustration  may  be  made  to  suffice 
for  the  establishment  of  the  need  of  a  system  of  segregation.  , 
Assume  that  you  had  a  choice  of  associating  with  either 
concern  A  or  concern  B,  whose  capitals  were  equal  to  each 
other,  upon  the  investment  of  a  like  sum  by  you.  Could  you 
choose  logically  between  the  two?  Let  us  see.  The  correct 
balance  sheet  of  concern  A  follows : 

ASSETS  LIABILITIES   AND  CAPITAL 

Cash  $  8,000.00    Notes  and  Accts.  Pay.     $16,000.00 

Notes  and  Accts.  Rec.     12,000.00    Capital                               18,000.00 

Mdse.  on  hand  4,000.00 

Plant  and  Mchy.  10,000.00 


$34,000.00 


$.:;4.ooooo 


The  correct  statement  for  concern  B  is  as  follows 


ASSETS 

Cash 

Notes  and  Accts.  Rec. 
Mdse.  on  hand 
Plant  and  Mchy. 


LIABILITIES   AND  CAPITAL 

$4,000.00  Notes  and  Accts.  Pay.  $16,000.00 
5,000.00    Capital  18,000.00 

2,000.00 

23,000.00 


$34,000.00 


$34,000.00 


Even  a  casual  inspection  will  reveal  the  reason  for  a  decided 
preference  in  favor  of  the  first  concern,  everything  else  being 
equal.  Should  A  be  called  upon  to  pay  off  its  indebtedness, 
it  could  easily  do  so,  and  have  a  comfortable  balance  left  for 
the  conduct  of  its  affairs.     But  matters  are  quite  different 


2IO    Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

with  the  other  concern.  If  it  realized  the  full  amount  on  all 
its  current  assets,  five  thousand  dollars  of  its  liabilities  would 
remain  unliquidated.  The  evident  reason  for  B's  desire  to 
secure  additional  funds  is  to  meet  an  apparent  deficit,  while  A 
is  financially  able  to  continue  without  such  aid.  The  dis- 
cussion might  be  prolonged  indefinitely,  but  the  conclusion 
for  our  present  purpose  is  already  manifest.  A  segregation 
of  items  so  as  clearly  to  set  off  current  assets  against  current 
liabilities,  and  corresponding  classes  of  assets  against  the  cor- 
responding liabilities,  is  an  accounting  desideratum. 

The  individual  teacher  may  carry  the  indicated  separation 
as  far  as  his  judgment  indicates  it  as  desirable,  and  he  may  even 
reverse  the  order  about  to  be  shown,  but  the  point  to  be  em- 
phasized is  the  absolute  need  of  a  systematic  classification. 
A  suggested  form  follows  : 


BALANCE    SHEET    OF 

THE    L. 

M.    COMPANY,    AS    OF 

DECEMBER 

31 

»    1913 

Current  Assets : 

Current  Liabilities : 

Cash                     $ 

Notes  Payable       $ 

Notes  Receivable 

Accounts  Payable 

$ 

Accts.  Receivable 

_  ^ 

Trade  Assets : 

Deferred  Liabilities : 

Finished  Goods     $ 

Accrued  wages        $ 

Goods  in  process 

Accrued  interest 

Raw  materials 

_  ^ 

on  mortgage 

$ 

Deferred  Assets : 

Fixed  Liabilities : 

Prepaid  taxes        $ 

20  yr.  mtge.  bond 

$ 

Prepaid  insuranfce 

_  « 

Capital  and  Surplus : 

Fixed  Assets : 

Plant  and  Mchy.  $ 

Capital  Stock         $ 

Tools 

Surplus 

Fixtures 

$ 

Reserve 

$ 

Accounting  211 

SINGLE   ENTRY 

The  transition  from  double  entry  to  single  entry  is  a  very 
simple  process.  A  statement  to  the  effect  that  the  latter 
system  keeps  personal  accounts  only  furnishes  the  cue  to 
the  necessary  treatment.  Consider  a  given  transaction.  Do 
the  rules  of  double  entry  result  in  either  a  charge  or  a  credit 
to  a  personal  account?  If  there  does  result  such  a  debit  or 
credit,  it  is  to  be  entered  accordingly ;  the  rest  of  the  solution 
is  ignored.  The  conclusion  is  soon  arrived  at  that  in  order 
to  ascertain  whether  as  a  result  of  a  given  transaction  there  is 
to  be  a  single  entry  debit  or  credit  can  be  determined  by  the 
application  of  double  entry  devices  and  tests  already  known. 

After  learning  the  principle  of  debit  and  credit  as  employed 
in  the  single  entry  system,  the  next  question  concerns  itself 
with  the  books  employed.  Under  the  simplest  conditions 
a  journal,  a  ledger,  and  a  memorandum  cash  book  suffice. 
Inasmuch  as  under  such  conditions  all  postings  are  made  from 
the  journal  only,  a  cash  item  must  appear  twice.  With  the 
growth  of  business,  other  books,  such  as  sales  and  purchase 
books,  are  added ;  these,  together  with  the  cash  book,  become 
posting  media,  and  we  soon  see  that  double  entry  differs  from 
single  entry  only  in  the  ledger  accounts  kept.  But  a  class 
readily  sees  that  by  means  of  special  columns  in  the  books  of 
original  entry,  double  entry  involves  so  little  extra  work  that 
no  argument  remains  in  favor  of  the  single  entry  system. 
When  the  further  difference  between  the  two  systems  regard- 
ing the  determination  of  the  condition  and  progress  of  the 
business  has  been  seen,  the  class  will  be  ready  for  the  discus- 
sion involving  the  relative  merits  of  the  two  systems. 

The  change  from  single  entry  to  double  entry  is  often 
regarded  as  a  difficult  step.     We  beheve  that  the  obstacles 


212     Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

are  more  imaginary  than  real.  Let  the  class  have  before  it 
two  ledgers,  —  one  the  result  of  single  entry  bookkeeping, 
the  other  of  double  entry.  Elicit  from  them  that  the  essential 
difference  lies  in  the  absence  from  the  former  of  the  real  and 
nominal  accounts  contained  in  the  latter.  But  how  may  the 
first  be  made  like  the  second?  Simply  enough,  by  adding  the 
real  and  the  nominal  accounts.  After  performing  the  nec- 
essary operations,  induce  the  class  to  express  what  they  did 
in  somewhat  the  following  way  : 

First  make  the  last  single  entry  entry,  i.e.,  give  the  proprietor 
credit  for  the  net  gain, or  charge  him  with  the  net  loss  found. 

Then,  copy  the  Statement  of  Assets  and  Liabilities  into  the 
journal,  posting  all  those  items  which  are  not  checked. 

The  full  journal  entry,  in  a  hypothetical  case,  is  herewith 
shown : 


V 
V 

i8 
24 

19 

V 

V 


Dec.  31,  1913 

John  Doe  Cr. 

For  year's  net  gain  as  per  statement. 

31 

I  have  this  day  decided  to  change  my  books 
from  Single  Entry  to  Double  Entry.     The 
following  exhibit  shows  the  condition  of  my 
business : 
Cash 

Accounts  Receivable 
Notes  Receivable 
Mdse. 

Notes  Payable 

Accounts  Payable 

John  Doe,  Prop. 

The  above  balances  have  been  posted  as 
indicated,  except  those  checked  ;  cash  appears 
in  the  Cash  Book,  Accts.  Rec.  and  Accts.  Pay., 
itemized,  and  John  Doe,  Prop.'s  account,  are 
already  in  the  ledger. 


568 


1896 
4304 
3300 
2000 


2400 
1800 
7300 


Accounting  213 


CONTROLLING   ACCOUNTS 


Just  as  the  distinction  between  capital  and  income  may  be 
said  to  illustrate  the  distinction  between  bookkeeping  and 
accounting  on  the  theoretical  side,  so  the  use  of  controlling 
accounts  may  be  said  to  differentiate  the  two  on  the  side  of 
technique.  The  introduction  of  these  accounts  has  enabled 
the  accountant  to  apply  various  "  internal  checks  "  or  ''  fraud 
preventives  "  without  sacrificing  time. 

It  is  hardly  necessary  to  suggest  that  the  various  practical 
advantages  of  controlUng  accounts  should  be  grasped  by  the 
entire  class.  No  teaching  of  the  subject  is  complete  which 
fails  to  emphasize  the  fact  that  these  accounts  were  sum- 
maries as  well  as  proofs,  and  that  they  faciUtated  the  taking 
of  trial  balances.  But  as  our  experience  serves  to  show  that 
many  pupils  who  know  how  to  keep  books  which  embody 
these  controlling  features  fail  to  understand  the  principle 
involved,  and  as  we  believe  in  the  principle  that  what  one 
thoroughly  understands  one  need  not  memorize,  we  propose 
to  develop  a  lesson  on  controUing  accounts  for  the  benefit 
of  the  student  and  teacher  as  well  as  for  the  sake  of  the  busi- 
ness man  who  wishes  to  obtain  more  Hght  upon  this  subject. 

For  the  purposes  of  this  model  lesson,  let  us  select  one  of 
the  two  common  examples  of  controlling  accounts.  Accounts 
Receivable,  or  Customers'  Ledger  Controlling  Accounts  as  it 
is  sometimes  called,  will  now  serve  our  purposes.  We  already 
know  that  the  transactions  which  ordinarily  affect  a  customer's 
account  consist  of  sales  as  charges  and  of  credits  arising  as  a 
result  of  payment  in  cash  or  by  note,  or  by  a  return  of  goods. 
Hence  the  necessity  of  arranging  our  books  so  as  to  provide 
for  these  various  charges  and  discharges,  both  individually 
and  collectively. 


214     Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

The  sales  book,  or  an  equivalent,  furnishes  the  medium  for 
the  debits.  Each  charge  to  an  individual's  account  in  the 
customer's  ledger  corresponds  to  a  similar  charge  to  the  con- 
trolling account  in  the  general  ledger,  in  virtue  of  the  fact  that 
the  charge  to  this  latter  account  is  the  sum  or  total  of  the 
items  previously  posted  as  single  items  to  the  customers' 
ledger.  And  though  the  entries  to  the  individual  accounts 
be  made  daily,  the  sum  to  the  controlling  account  is  not 
usually  made  oftener  than  once  a  month.  If  the  work  has 
been  performed  correctly  thus  far,  it  follows  that  the  sum  ob- 
tained by  Usting  all  the  items  found  in  the  various  accounts 
of  the  customers'  ledger  —  and  they  consist  of  charges  only, 
as  yet  —  will  exactly  equal  the  single  item  in  the  Customers' 
Ledger  Controlling  Account.  The  next  comment  in  this 
connection  is  that  the  controlling  account,  in  the  condition 
assumed,  represents  the  total  amount  owed  to  us  on  open-book 
accounts,  while  the  sum  of  all  the  items  in  all  of  the  accounts 
of  the  Customers'  or  Sales  Ledger  shows  this  outstanding 
amount  in  detail.  Inasmuch  as  only  the  posting  to  the  Gen- 
eral Ledger  affects  the  Trial  Balance,  it  is  necessary  to  offset 
the  charge  to  Customers'  Controlling  Account  by  a  credit  for 
an  equal  amount.  This  is  accomplished  by  crediting  the 
Sales  Account  with  the  same  total  from  the  Sales  Book. 

But  the  case  just  reviewed  is  one-sided  and  hypothetical. 
The  total  amount  just  considered  is  reduced  by  various  credits, 
and  these  it  is  our  intention  now  to  consider.  Remedy : 
These  credits,  as  the  reader  knows,  consist  of  cash  received 
by  us,  notes  receivable,  and  goods  returned  to  us.  We  shall 
first  present  the  result  of  cash  receipts,  and  then  the  effects 
of  notes  and  returned  sales.  Before  proceeding,  however,  it  is 
well  to  observe  the  condition  of  the  books  at  this  stage.  Let 
us  assume  that  our  books  at  the  present  moment  are  as  follows : 


Accounting 


215 


I18 


18 


27 


% 


Sales,  Dec.  i,  1913 

T.  Jones,  2/10,  n/30 
(itemized) 

8 

T.  Jones,  2/10,  n/30 
(itemized) 


15 


R.  Smith,  on  acct. 
(itemized) 

29 

T.  Williams,  2/10,  n/30 
(itemized) 

31 


Customers'  Controlling  a/c,  Dr.,|   total  for 
Sales,  Cr.,  j     month 


500 

00 

750 

00 

600 

00 

310 

00 

2160 

00 

In  the  Customers'  Ledger: 


18 
1913 


T.  JONES 


Dec. 


2/10,  n/3oS 
2/10,  n/30 


500 
750 


27 
1913 


R.  SMITH 


Dec. 


15 


On  ajc        S 


600 


^  Folios  in  Customers'  Ledger.  2  Folios  in  General  Ledger. 


2i6    Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 


1913 


T.  WILLIAMS 


Dec. 


29 


2/10,  n/30  S 


310 


In  the  General  Ledger 


1913 


CUSTOMERS'   CONTROLLING  ACCOUNT 


Dec.  31 


S    8 


2160 


1913 


SALES   ACCOUNT 


Dec. 


31 


2160 


Accounting  217 

Assume  that  we  have  to  consider  the  following  transactions : 

(a)  Dec.   II,  Jones  paid  invoice  of  the  ist  inst.,  by  check, 

$490.00. 
(6)  Dec.  17,  Jones  paid  invoice  of  the  17th  inst.,  by  check, 

$750.00. 
(c)  Dec.  16,  Smith  paid  on  account,  check,  $200.00. 

Omitting  "  a  "  for  the  moment,  we  know  that  "  b  "  would 
ordinarily  result  in  : 

Cash  $750.00 

To  Jones  $750.00 

but,  inasmuch  as  we  now  have  a  controlUng  account,  it  must 
also  be  credited  with  $750.00  in  order  to  reduce  the  amount 
of  Accounts  Receivable.  The  problem,  then,  is  how  to  ar- 
range the  cash  book  so  as  to  furnish  the  one  debit  and  the  two 
credits.  The  class  will  readily  see  that  if  a  special  column  on 
the  debit  side  of  the  cash  book  is  provided  for  all  items  affect- 
ing customers'  accounts,  each  account  may  be  credited  in- 
dividually, and  the  controlUng  account  credited  with  the  total 
of  all  items  in  this  special  columm.  This  arrangement  affords 
a  solution  for  "  b  "  and  "  c." 

An  apparent  difficulty  confronts  us  in  the  case  of  "  a." 
Were  we  to  journalize  the  transaction,  it  would  be : 

Cash  $490.00 

Discount  on  Sales  10.00 

Jones  (Customers'  Controlling  %)     $500.00 

The  cash  book  arrangement  previously  described  may  be  so 
modified  as  to  provide  a  convenient  medium  for  recording 


2i8     Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

the  more  complicated  transactions  of  the  type  just  shown. 
An  arrangement  of  columns,  such  as  the  following,  is  usual : 


Customers' 

Controlling 

Accot™T 


Dis.  ON  Sales 


Net 


The  amount  of  the  check  is  entered  in  the  last  column,  the 
amount  in  payment  of  which  it  was  received  is  entered  in  the 
first  column,  the  amount  allowed  for  prepayment  in  the  second. 
Where  no  discount  has  been  allowed,  the  amount  received  is 
entered  in  the  first  and  third  columns.  Posting  offers  no 
special  difficulties,  if  one  bears  in  mind  that  the  ledger  result, 
regardless  of  the  book  or  form  employed  for  the  recording  of 
a  transaction,  remains  unchanged.  It  is  easily  seen  that  the 
total  of  Discount  on  Sales  should  be  posted  to  the  debit  of 
its  account  in  the  general  ledger ;  that  from  the  first  column 
the  individual  items  are  to  be  posted  to  the  credit  side  of 
their  respective  accounts  in  the  Customers'  Ledger,  while  the 
total  is  credited  to  the  Customers'  ControlHng  Account  in 
the  General  Ledger.  The  net  cash,  that  is,  the  difference 
between  the  first  and  the  second  .columns,  is  the  amount  of 
cash  debited,  and  this  is  found  in  the  net  column  on  the  debit 
side  of  the  cash  book. 

Returns  of  goods  from  customers  and  settlements  by  note 
remain  for  treatment  in  connection  with  controlling  accounts. 
These  transactions  require  a  modification  of  the  ordinary 


Accounting 


219 


journal  so  as  to  provide  for  crediting  the  customers'  personal 
accounts  in  the  Sales  Ledger,  and  at  the  same  time  to  furnish 
a  convenient  means  of  posting  to  the  controlling  account  in 
the  General  Ledger.  The  following  form  (omitting  Accounts 
Payable,  at  present)  will  help  explain  the  use  of  this  book : 


Purchase 
Ledger 

Controlling 
Account 

General 
Ledger 

L.F. 

Dates 

Notes  Rec.          His  30  day  note, 
N.  Smith            on  account 

Sales                   Returned  goods, 
R.  Jones              damaged 

R.  Franklin        Gave  our  60-day 
Notes  Payable   note  on  account 

Billings  &  Co.     Returned  goods. 
Purchases           not  as  per  order 

Customers'  Ledger  Controlling  % 
Purchase  Ledger  Controlling  % 

General 
Ledger 

Customers' 
Ledger 

Controlling 
Account 

1000 
250 

00 
00 

500 
25 

1250 

00 
00 

00 

1000 

250 
525 

00 

00 
00 

500 
25 

CO 

00 

525 

00 

1250 

00 

1775 

00 

1775 

00 

The  reader  will  readily  see  that  if  the  suggestions  embodied 
in  the  foregoing  treatment  of  the  Customers'  Controlling  ac- 
count be  observed,  a  class  of  average  intelligence  should  have 
no  difficulty  in  grasping  the  principles  involved.  In  a  similar 
way,  but  with  less  detailed  explanation,  the  Purchase  or  Cred- 
itor's Ledger  Controlling  accoimt  may  be  taught. 


COST  ACCOUNTS 


A  very  important  element  in  the  recent  advance  made  by 
accounting  is  the  fact  that  it  has  been  appHed  to  the  deter- 


2  20    Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

mination  of  factory  costs.  Competitive  forces  have  made  it 
essential  for  the  producer  to  control  the  cost  of  output  to  the 
end  that  leaks  be  detected  and  weak  links  in  the  production 
chain  be  discovered.  It  is  because  of  the  importance  of 
accounting  in  connection  with  the  shop  that  it  is  deemed  ad- 
visable to  include  the  elements  of  this  subject  in  such  a  general 
course  as  the  one  here  planned.  But  how  much  should  be 
included  and  how  shall  that  portion  be  taught? 

Quite  obviously,  cost  accounting  cannot  be  thoroughly 
presented.  It  is  sufficient  that  the  class  recognize  the  differ- 
ence between  a  manufacturing,  trading,  and  profit  and  loss 
statement  and  cost  accounts.  The  former  is  a  sort  of  post 
mortem  exhibit,  —  it  shows  the  result  of  a  period's  operations. 
Cost  Accounting  attempts  to  keep  a  contemporaneous  record 
so  that  not  only  will  final  results  be  obtainable,  but  so  that 
also,  at  intermediate  periods,  the  efi&ciency  of  the  operations 
may  be  determined. 

As  illustrations  of  what  cost  accounts  can  accomplish,  two  or 
three  well-known  examples  must  suffice.  In  a  certain  factory 
it  was  found  by  the  accountants  who  were  called  in  that  there 
was  a  great  discrepancy  between  the  weight  of  raw  metal  and 
the  weight  of  the  corresponding  castings.  The  accountants 
pointed  out  that  there  was  a  leak  somewhere,  and  the  manage- 
ment, acting  upon  their  advice,  found  that  many  faulty  cast- 
ings, instead  of  being  returned  by  the  workmen,  were  thrown 
away  behind  a  fence,  so  as  to  avoid  detection  of  the  defective 
work.  In  another  case,  the  leather  employed  by  a  certain 
department  of  a  shoe  factory  was  excessive  in  comparison 
with  that  employed  for  similar  purposes  in  other  departments. 
Surveillance  disclosed  that  the  men  were  throwing  completed 
heels  at  boys  who  were  swimming  in  a  stream  below  the  fac- 
tory windows  because  the  lads  used  to  tease  the  workmen. 


Accounting 


221 


Further  investigation  showed  that  the  boys  sold  the  heels  to 
a  rival  factory  in  another  part  of  the  town.  Cost  records, 
to  mention  just  another  instance,  have  shown  that  it  was 
profitable  to  drive  a  drill  at  a  speed  sufficient  to  destroy  it  in 
a  few  minutes  rather  than  to  slow  down  in  order  to  lengthen 
the  life  of  the  tool. 

Now,  what  are  cost  accounts  ?  In  answering  this  question 
we  also  dispose  of  the  other,  how  to  teach  cost  accounting  in 
the  high  school.  When  we  learn  that  the  essential  elements 
of  the  productive  activity,  from  the  accountant's  point  of 
view,  consist  of  the  destruction  of  raw  materials,  the  direct 
cost  of  labor  employed,  and  the  other  more  general  or  overhead 
charges,  the  problem  before  us  is  greatly  simphfied.  In  order 
to  control  the  raw  materials  used,  some  form  of  stores  record 
is  necessary.  The  forms  employed  provide  for  a  recording 
of  the  total  amount  purchased,  the  amount  given  out  for  any 
particular  job,  and  the  balance  on  hand.  Wages  paid  out 
are  so  divided,  whenever  possible,  as  to  charge  each  job  or 
contract  with  the  amount  incurred  on  its  behalf.  Other 
costs,  such  as  depreciation  of  the  plant,  the  use  of  fuel  and 
Hght,  and  the  other  factory  costs,  are  apportioned  in  accord- 
ance with  some  predetermined  plan.  In  the  simplest  form, 
the  completed  cost  account,  showing  the  profit  on  a  particular 
contract,  is  as  follows  : 

Contract  No.  i86 


Date 


Materials 

Wages 

Factory  Overhead 

Apportioned 
Profit 


$1800.00 

2600.00 

225.00 
750-00 
)375-oo 


Date 


Amount  of  Con- 
tract 
Extras 


$5000.00 
37S-00 


$5375-00 


222     Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

DEVISING   A   SET   OF   BOOKS 

It  is  no  easy  task  to  devise  a  system  of  books,  even  for  a 
simple  business.  The  student  should  be  led  to  see  that  two 
preliminary  steps  are  essential :  {a)  the  business  must  be 
surveyed  so  as  to  determine  the  kind  of  transactions  which 
occur.  The  transactions  will  suggest  the  books  to  be  em- 
ployed, {b)  Before  the  books  are  ordered,  typical  transac- 
tions should  be  entered  upon  sample  rulings,  so  as  to  test  the 
value  of  the  proposed  system. 

Let  us  employ  an  ordinary  trading  concern  for  the  sake  of 
illustration.  Its  operations  consist  of  purchases  and  sales, 
cash  receipts  and  disbursements,  and  miscellaneous  trans- 
actions. A  purchase  book,  or  purchase  journal  as  it  is  some- 
times called,  a  sales  book,  a  cash  book,  and  a  journal  are  nec- 
essary. Now  let  us  suppose  that  the  principal  purchases  are 
made  from  a  dozen  concerns,  while  the  number  of  customers 
is  several  hundred.  This  state  of  affairs  necessitates  a  di- 
vision of  the  ledger  into  a  sales  ledger  and  a  general  ledger, 
the  latter  including  the  accounts  with  creditors.  In  the  cash 
book  and  in  the  journal  special  columns  will  have  to  be  pro- 
vided for  the  customers'  controlUng  account.  Other  special 
columns  will  be  needed  in  the  books  of  original  entry  in  order 
to  reduce  the  work  of  posting  frequently  recurring  items. 

When  a  set  has  been  planned  in  accordance  with  the  scheme 
just  briefly  outlined,  an  essential  test,  already  mentioned, 
must  be  appHed.  Take  the  transactions  which  are  to  be  of 
frequent  occurrence  and  make  sure  that  there  actually  has 
been  provided  a  means  of  easy  and  efficient  recording.  But 
before  approving  the  set,  it  is  well  to  assure  one's  self  that  the 
less  usual  transactions  can  also  be  handled.  As  a  general 
rule  it  will  be  found  that  the  journal  will  be  the  medium 


Accounting  223 

whereby  such  transactions  will  find  their  way  to  the  proper 
accounts. 

AUDITING 

The  work  of  the  present  chapter  would  lack  completeness 
were  we  to  conclude  without  some  reference  to  auditing. 
Though  it  is  no  part  of  the  high  school  scheme  of  education 
to  turn  out  finished  auditors,  it  is  nevertheless  fit  and  proper 
that  those  in  our  charge  recognize  the  kind  of  work  performed 
by  the  auditor.  Even  if  our  students  never  expect  to  earn  a 
livelihood  by  practising  as  pubHc  accountants,  they  may  never- 
theless be  called  upon  to  vouch  the  treasurer's  report  of  an 
organization  or  a  society,  and  such  a  possibiHty,  by  the  way, 
may  serve  as  a  very  interesting  introduction  to  the  subject, 
from  the  teacher's  point  of  view. 

Auditing  is  essentially  reviewing.  It  consists,  at  least  so 
far  as  the  high  school  course  is  concerned,  of  going  over  the 
work  of  the  bookkeeper  and  certifying  to  its  correctness.  Nor 
is  this  division  of  accounting  absolutely  new.  In  the  mathe- 
matics room,  for  instance,  checking  of  operations  and  results 
has  been  insisted  upon.  In  bookkeeping,  too,  the  postings 
have  been  gone  over  as  a  precaution  against  error,  and  other 
steps  have  been  taken  to  assure  correct  results.  An  audit  is 
a  systematic  checking,  and  because  it  is  systematic  it  requires 
a  plan.  Thus,  if  cash  receipts  and  disbursements  are  to  be 
audited,  it  is  necessary  to  ascertain  that  all  money  received 
has  been  actually  deposited  or  otherwise  accounted  for,  and 
that  all  payments  were  bona  fide  and  legitimate. 

But  instead  of  merely  checking  cash,  it  is  usually  necessary 
to  go  over  all  the  work.  Hence  the  need  of  knowing  what 
work  requires  checking.  This  necessitates  that  a  list  be  made 
of  the  books  and  vouchers  to  be  examined  so  that  a  definite 
idea  shall  be  obtained  of  the  problems  to  be  solved,  and  in 


224    Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

order  to  avoid  the  possibility  of  neglecting  to  examine  some 
book  or  class  of  accounts.  As  a  final  exercise,  have  the  student 
audit  a  complete  set  of  books  which  has  been  kept  by  a  fellow- 
student.  Insist  that  the  certificate  cover  the  correctness  of 
the  work  both  with  respect  to  principle  and  to  fraud.  Have 
it  also  include  a  balance  sheet  and  a  statement  of  operations 
based  upon  the  trial  balance  which  has  been  prepared  by  the 
bookkeeper.  The  more  capable  student  might  criticise  the 
system  examined  and  make  constructive  recommendations 
for  an  improved  set. 

SUMMARY 

There  is  a  real  distinction  between  bookkeeping  and  ac- 
counting, although  it  is  not  easy  to  indicate  the  line  which 
separates  the  two.  Due  to  the  fact  that  it  is  possible  materi- 
ally to  decrease  the  time  which  must  be  spent  in  acquiring 
a  knowledge  of  bookkeeping,  without  in  the  sHghtest  way 
eliminating  any  of  the  good  features  of  the  best  course  in 
bookkeeping,  considerable  time  is  now  available  for  high  school 
work  in  elementary  accounting. 

The  course  in  accounting  should  be  somewhat  intensive. 
The  principal  topics  which  should  be  included  are  the  follow- 
ing :  Balance  sheets,  income  statements,  single  entry,  the 
change  from  single  entry  to  double  entry,  controlling  accounts, 
partnership  accounting,  and  corporation  accounting.  If  time 
permits,  some  attention  should  be  given  to  cost  accounts,  re- 
serves, statement  of  affairs,  deficiency  accounts,  and  auditing. 

The  methodology  which  is  indicated  is  based  upon  the  prin- 
ciples presented  in  connection  with  the  teaching  of  book- 
keeping. As  much  of  the  work  in  accounting  is  an  extension 
of  bookkeeping,  less  time  should  be  spent  upon  the  introduc- 
tory steps.  Induction,  rather  than  deduction,  however,  should 
be  the  more  prevalent  method  of  presentation. 


Accounting  225 

EXERCISES 

GROUP  ONE 

1.  Describe  the  functions  of  the  accountant  in  modern  industrial 
society. 

2.  Justify  the  inclusion  of  accounting  in  the  curriculum  of  the  com- 
mercial high  school. 

3.  Outline  the  steps  which  should  be  taken  in  the  presentation  of  a 
lesson  on  the  balance  sheet.     How  would  you  "motivate"  the  topic? 

4.  Why  should  double  entry  be  studied  before  single  entry?  Dis- 
cuss fully. 

5.  Indicate  the  pedagogic  steps  involved  in  a  lesson  on  controlling 
accounts.     Select  accounts  payable  for  illustration. 

6.  Should  cost  accounts  be  taught  in  the  high  school  ?    Discuss  fully. 

7.  What  factors  would  determine  your  selection  of  specific  sets  of 
books  for  class  work.  Draw  your  illustrations  from  the  conditions 
which  exist  in  your  own  community. 

8.  Show  how  the  high  school  course  in  auditing  may  be  made  prac- 
tical. 

9.  What  preliminary  steps  should  be  taken  before  installing  a  system 
of  accounts  ? 

GROUP  TWO 

1.  Assume  that  the  university  authorities  had  criticised  the  wisdom 
of  offering  a  high  school  course  in  accounting.  Draw  up  a  brief  for  pres- 
entation to  the  school  authorities :  (a)  showing  the  value  of  the  course ; 
(b)  proving  its  practical  value ;  and  (c)  proving  that  it  does  not  compete 
with  the  work  offered  by  the  university. 

2.  How  should  the  methodology  of  bookkeeping  be  modified  to  meet 
the  requirements  of  accounting?  Answer  so  as  to  guide  high  school 
teachers. 

3.  As  the  head  of  the  commercial  department  of  a  high  school,  select 
one  hundred  dollars'  worth  of  books  to  form  the  nucleus  of  an  accounting 
library.     Briefly  indicate  the  principles  of  choice  which  you  observed. 

4.  Describe  a  system  of  indexing,  which  woidd  make  available  for  easy 
reference,  books  and  articles  on  accounting. 

Q 


226    Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Cole,  W.  M.,  Accounts  —  Their  Construction  and  Interpretation.    Boston, 

Houghton  Mifflin  Co.,  1908. 
Greend LINGER,  L.,  Accountancy  Problems  with  Solutions.     New  York 

Accountancy  Pub.  Co.,  Vol.  I,  1909,  and  Business  Book  Bureau, 

Vol.  II,  191 1. 
Hatfield,  H.  R.,  Modern  Accounting.     New  York,  Appleton  &  Co., 

1909. 
Journal  of  Accountancy.     New  York,  Ronald  Press  Co.,  current. 
Klein,  J.  J.,  Elements  of  Accounting.     New  York,  Appleton  &  Co.,  1913. 
Lisle,  G.,  Account-Keeping  in  Principle  and  Practice.     London,  Green  & 

Sons,  1911. 
Montgomery,  R.  H.,  Auditing  Theory  and  Practice.    New  York,  Ronald 

Press  Co.,  191 2. 
Nicholson,  J.  L.,  Cost  Accounting,  Theory  and  Practice.    New  York, 

Ronald  Press  Co.,  191 3. 
Renn,  G.  B.,  Practical  Auditing.     Chicago,  G.  B.  Renn,  1907. 
RowE,  H.  M.,  Bookkeeping  and  Accounting.     Baltimore,  H.  M.  Rowe 

Co.,  1911. 
Wolff,  A.  H.,  History  of  Accountants  and  Accountancy.     London,  Green 

&  Co.,  1912. 

Note.  Pool's  Manual  of  Railways,  Manual  of  Industrials,  and  Manual 
of  Public  Utilities  furnish  useful  data  for  practice  in  the  analysis  of 
annual  reports  of  corporations. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

Commercial  Geography 
its  place  in  the  curriculum 

Tms  term,  in  its  larger  sense,  includes,  as  we  have  seen,  a 
study  of  the  way  in  which  man,  by  his  industry,  has  subordi- 
nated the  forces  of  nature  to  his  use.  It.includes,  therefore,  a 
study  of  the  natural  resources  of  the  earth  and  a  study  of  how 
man,  by  his  labors,  has  utilized  these  resources  to  his  own  ad- 
vantage and  to  the  advantage  of  his  fellow-men.  The  study  is, 
or  ought  to  be,  the  most  cultural  subject  in  the  commercial 
curriculum,  because  it  gives  the  student  an  insight  into  the 
nature  of  all  those  activities  which  give  rise  to  man's  industry 
in  relation  to  the  material  world.  In  this  sense,  therefore,  it 
is  the  broadest  of  all  the  subjects  of  the  curriculum. 

Unfortunately,  there  is  no  subject  of  the  course  which  has 
been  taught  more  poorly  than  commercial  geography.  This 
has  been  due  partly  to  a  misconception  of  the  aim  and  content 
of  the  subject,  partly  to  the  difficulties  of  handling  the  mass 
of  material,  and  partly  to  the  lack  of  culture  of  those  who  have 
taught  the  subject. 

The  greatest  difl&culty  has  been  due  to  the  fact  that  infor- 
mation has  been  made  the  end  of  the  study,  rather  than  or- 
ganization, interpretation,  and  the  relation  of  the  subject  to 
the  real  activities  of  business.  The  mass  of  material  included 
in  commercial  geography  cannot  be  absorbed  by  mere  mem- 
orizing. A  good  many  facts  can  be  memorized,  of  course, 
but  there  is  no  assurance  that  these  facts  will  remain  in  the 

227 


228    Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

mind ;  and  even  if  they  did,  it  is  a  question  whether  in  them- 
selves they  arc  of  much  value.  Facts  are  of  very  little  value 
unless  they  are  interpreted  and  organized,  and  the  results 
applied  to  the  understanding  of  business  in  its  larger  aspects. 
Of  what  advantage,  for  example,  is  it  for  a  student  to  know 
the  value  of  the  foreign  commerce  of  the  United  States  in  any 
one  year,  as  a  fact  for  itself?  This  knowledge  becomes  of 
value  only  when  it  is  related  to  other  facts  of  the  same  kind ; 
as,  for  example,  the  commerce  of  the  United  States  in  other 
years,  the  comparison  of  such  commerce  with  that  of  other 
countries,  etc. ;  and  after  such  comparison  is  made,  the  ques- 
tion should  be  asked  :  Is  the  country  improving  or  is  it  going 
back  ?  Is  its  rate  of  progress  as  large  as  that  of  other  leading 
countries,  or  not?  After  we  have  ascertained  the  fact,  we 
should  then  find  the  reason  for  it,  and  such  inquiry  will  lead 
us  to  discover  the  line  along  which  the  country  has  been 
strong,  the  line  along  which  it  needs  improvement,  and  what 
are  the  factors  necessary  for  such  improvement.  It  will  be 
seen,  therefore,  that  the  handling  of  facts  requires  a  selection 
and  an  organization  to  bring  out  their  meaning.  A  specific 
illustration  of  how  facts  should  be  organized  will  be  shown 
below. 

A  second  difficulty  in  the  teaching  of  commercial  geography 
is  due  to  a  lack  of  facility  on  the  part  of  the  student  for  ob- 
taining first-hand  information.  Facts  are  taken  from  books, 
and  no  opportunity  is  given  to  the  student  to  realize  how  facts 
are  gathered.  In  the  very  nature  of  the  case,  it  cannot  be 
expected  that  the  students  will  be  able  to  gather  the  great 
mass  of  statistical  material  by  their  own  efforts.  Millions  of 
dollars  are  spent  every  year  by  the  United  States  government 
and  by  private  agencies  to  collect  statistics.  Upon  the  data 
furnished  by  these  public  and  private  agencies  the  student 


Commercial  Geography  229 

will,  in  the  main,  rely.  At  the  same  time  every  one  should  be 
taught  to  realize  the  meaning  of  lirst-hand  information. 
Only  in  this  way  will  he  come  to  a  real  appreciation  of  the 
meaning  of  statistics,  and  the  way  in  which  they  aid  a  person 
in  the  interpretation  of  commerce.  There  are  sufficient  op- 
portunities for  such  first-hand  observation  in  the  immediate 
environment  of  the  student.  Consequently,  every  course  in 
commercial  geography  should  be  introduced  by  a  course  in 
local  geography. 

INTRODUCTORY    COURSE    IN    LOCAL    INDUSTRIES 

The  purpose  of  such  a  course  in  local  commercial  geography 
will  be  threefold.  First,  to  acquaint  a  student  at  first  hand 
with  the  meaning  of  the  fundamental  concepts  used  —  such 
concepts  as  transportation,  raw  material,  manufactures, 
market ;  secondly,  to  make  him  acquainted  with  some  of  the 
methods  used  in  gathering  facts,  by  giving  him  a  first-hand 
opportunity  to  gather  some  of  the  facts  himself ;  and  thirdly, 
to  give  him  some  background  of  experience,  on  the  basis  of 
which  he  can  interpret  the  facts  and  figures  in  connection 
with  places,  countries,  and  activities,  with  which  he  cannot,  in 
the  nature  of  the  case,  come  in  direct  contact. 

The  opportunities  for  first-hand  study  of  local  geography 
vary,  of  course,  in  different  sections  of  the  country.  Persons 
living  in  rural  communities  have  fewer  opportunities  to  make 
a  study  of  commerce  than  those  living  in  the  city.  Further- 
more, those  students  living  in  seaport  cities  have  a  still 
larger  chance  for  first-hand  observation.  Nevertheless,  no 
section  of  the  country  is  so  devoid  of  industry  that  it  does 
not  offer  some  opportunity  for  a  kind  of  laboratory  or  observa- 
tional study  of  commerce.  The  initial  step  in  such  a  study  will 
be  the  assignment  of  different  problems  to  the  students,  to 


230    Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

give  them  an  idea  of  the  fact  that  industry  is  going  on  before 
their  eyes,  and  to  make  them  reaUze  that  fact.  For  example  : 
A  student  Uving  in  a  city  might  be  asked  to  take  a  census  of  a 
particular  block,  and  find  out  the  kind  of  commercial  indus- 
tries that  are  conducted  there.  Another  student  might  be 
asked  to  follow  a  product  through  the  various  stages  in  its 
transportation.  Thus,  it  is  possible,  for  example,  for  a  stu- 
dent to  watch  the  processes  by  which  goods  are  brought  to  a 
store  and  unloaded ;  or  how  certain  goods  are  packed  for 
shipment,  and  how  they  are  brought  to  the  railroad  station 
or  to  the  wharf.  Another  student  might  have  the  oppor- 
tunity to  watch  a  product  through  its  different  stages  of  manu- 
facture and  note  how  the  raw  material  is  transformed  into  a 
manufactured  product.  These  are  common-place  examples, 
of  course,  and  they  may  seem  to  deal  with  facts  with  which 
every  person  should  be  acquainted.  At  the  same  time,  it  is 
surprising  to  find  the  great  amount  of  ignorance  there  exists 
on  the  part  of  students  in  connection  with  such  matters. 
Teachers  who  take  a  knowledge  of  these  facts  on  the  part  of 
the  student  for  granted,  make  a  serious  error,  which  is  found 
reflected  afterwards,  when  they  try  to  teach  commercial 
geography  by  means  of  a  text-book,  from  which  the  students 
memorize  a  mass  of  unrelated  facts  and  figures.  Besides,  the 
opportunity  to  gather  facts  at  first  hand  is  interesting  to  the 
student,  brings  him  in  direct  touch  with  commercial  activities, 
and  trains  him  how  to  observe  with  his  own  eyes  instead  of 
with  the  eyes  of  the  teacher  or  writer  of  the  text-book. 

The  same  reasons,  then,  which  prompt  us  to  begin  the  regu- 
lar course  in  geography  in  the  elementary  school,  with  a  study 
of  the  immediate  locality  in  which  the  pupil  lives,  applies 
even  more  strongly  to  the  study  of  commercial  geography. 
The  best  teachers  of  elementary  geography  have  recognized  the 


Commercial  Geography  231 

fact  that  the  common  notions  can  be  made  complete  only  by  a 
first-hand  observation  by  the  pupil;  and  local  geography 
alone  gives  an  opportunity  for  observation  within  the  grasp 
of  the  immature  mind.  A  first-hand  observation  of  a  river, 
an  island,  a  mountain,  etc.,  will  give  the  pupil  at  least  a  crude 
knowledge  of  these  terms.  But  the  preHminary  course  in 
local  geography  will  have  a  larger  aim  than  merely  the  visual- 
ization of  facts,  because  the  concepts  of  this  subject  are  less 
static  and  more  functional.  A  factory  building  or  a  store 
will  in  itself  give  the  pupil  no  idea  of  industry  and  com- 
merce. It  is  these  same  places  as  centres  of  activity  that 
reveal  some  of  the  dynamic  processes  of  industrial  growth. 

Facts  about  commerce  contained  in  books  are  dead,  unless 
they  are  interpreted  by  a  mass  of  experience  which  endows 
these  facts  with  vitaHty  by  showing  them  to  be  factors  in  a 
process.  The  foundation  for  such  organized  experience  must 
be  laid  in  the  course  in  local  industrial  geography.  Facts 
and  laws  pertaining  to  the  entire  country,  or  even  to  a  section 
of  it,  do  not  have  a  concrete  basis  which  lends  itself  to  visual- 
ization, and  from  which  generalizations  can  be  drawn.  A 
student  cannot  see  the  mining  industry  of  the  country,  but 
he  can  see  a  particular  mine,  the  concrete  observation  of 
which  may  typify  the  industrial  laws  pertaining  to  the  min- 
ing industry  in  the  whole  country.  When,  later  on,  he  studies 
about  the  mining  industry,  as  a  whole,  a  first-hand  knowledge 
of  the  local  industry  serves  to  throw  light  upon  phases  of  the 
study,  which,  otherwise,  would  remain  abstract. 

Furthermore,  we  have  decided  that  the  power  to  interpret 
industrial  facts  is  the  most  important  result  of  the  study  of 
commercial  geography.  This  power  is  not  merely  of  disci- 
plinary value  in  strengthening  the  pupil's  judgment,  but  it  is 
of  direct,  practical  bearing.     It  enables  him  to  understand  the 


232     Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

essential  nature  of  business  facts  by  referring  them  to  the 
forces  which  produced  them.  This  knowledge  helps  him  to 
guide  his  course  in  the  future  by  showing  him  how  to  deduce 
possible  effects  from  given  causes  or  conditions.  To  under- 
stand principles,  he  must  discover  them  for  himself  by  gen- 
eralizing from  the  concrete  manifestations  of  these  principles. 

These  manifestations  the  inexperienced  mind  can  grasp 
only  when  they  are  displayed  within  the  narrow  circle  of 
his  immediate  environment.  In  the  study  of  local  industry 
and  commerce,  he  will  find  sufficient  material  for  induction 
and  for  illustration  of  principles.  So  important  has  this  pre- 
liminary course  in  local  geography  appeared  to  some  teachers 
that  they  have  made  it  a  very  comprehensive  course  which 
includes  the  greater  part  of  the  field  ordinarily  covered  by 
commercial  geography.  While  there  are  strong  reasons  for 
such  an  elaborate  course,  the  difficulties  are  that  it  has  to  be 
presented  to  minds  that  are  not  mature  enough,  and  that 
most  localities  fail  to  furnish  that  complete  illustration  of  the 
working  of  the  principles  of  commerce  as  we  find  them  in 
large  industrial  centres  Hke  New  York.  An  outhne  of  a 
course  in  local  commercial  geography  will  be  found  in  the 
appendix  to  this  chapter. 

There  is  no  lack  of  concrete  material  for  the  study  of  com- 
mercial geography.  Teachers  overlook  the  abundance  of 
material  which  they  might  make  use  of,  and  rely  upon  the 
text-book,  because  it  follows  the  line  of  least  resistance.  The 
text-book  is  an  invaluable  aid  in  commercial  geography,  and 
its  proper  use  will  be  discussed  a  Httle  more  in  detail,  but  after 
all,  books,  and  particularly  the  text-book,  should  be  used  in 
a  supplementary,  and  not  in  an  exclusive  way.  The  concrete 
material  lies  before  every  student,  if  he  will  only  be  taught 
how  to  make  use  of  it. 


Commercial  Geography  233 

In  connection  with  the  discussion  of  aids  in  commercial 
geography,  we  shall  discuss  the  subject  of  the  commercial 
museum,  observation  trips,  and  pictures. 

TOPICS   TO   BE   INCLUDED 

(i)  Materials  of  Commerce.  —  This  topic  deals  with  the 
materials  —  vegetable,  animal,  and  mineral  —  which  enter 
into  commerce.  An  intelligent  knowledge  of  the  materials  pre- 
supposes a  knowledge  of  their  source,  their  distribution,  the 
extent  to  which  they  add  to  the  wealth  of  man,  and  the  way 
in  which  man  transforms  them  so  as  to  make  them  objects 
of  greatest  utility. 

(2)  Physiographic  Conditions  which  influence  Commerce.  — 
In  a  certain  sense,  we  might  sum  up  the  entire  subject  of 
commercial  geography  by  saying  that  there  are  two  elements 
involved,  —  nature  and  man.  The  study  of  nature  in  this 
connection  involves  a  study  of  the  earth  as  nature  offers  it  to 
us  (and  this  we  note  largely  under  the  term  of  Materials  of 
Commerce),  and  the  physiographic  conditions  which  make 
commerce  possible.  Under  these  we  include  the  influence  of 
climate,  soil,  wind,  and  natural  means  of  transportation. 
This  element  is  by  no  means  an  unimportant  one.  To  get 
the  greatest  value  from  the  study  of  the  physical  or  physio- 
graphic conditions  which  influence  commerce  we  must  see 
how  man  moulds  and  modifies  these  conditions  in  order  to 
make  them  of  greatest  use  to  himself.  We  may  note,  for 
example,  that  weather  conditions  have  a  good  or  a  bad  in- 
fluence upon  a  crop.  But  if  we  study  this  element  from  the 
standpoint  of  man's  adaptation  to  the  weather  conditions,  we 
obtain  a  much  better  insight  into  the  relation  of  man  to  his 
environment.  Thus,  the  government  issues  weather  reports 
and  predictions  which  may  foretell  possible  disaster.     Yet, 


234    Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

the  very  knowledge  of  danger  acts  as  a  warning  and  leads  us 
to  adjust  ourselves  to  our  expected  conditions.  We  have  a 
season  in  which  the  earth  is  utterly  unproductive,  —  the  winter 
season.  But  man's  anticipation  of  the  nature  of  this  season 
leads  him  to  adjust  himself  to  the  expected  condition  by  mak- 
ing due  preparation  in  time  of  productiveness.  The  study  of 
physical  geography  is  both  fascinating  and  useful  when  it  is 
taken  up  from  the  point  of  view  of  man's  reaction  and  adjust- 
ment to  these  conditions.  While  the  geologist  may  study  the 
physical  earth  with  a  purely  scientific  interest,  the  student  of 
commerce  should  regard  it  entirely  from  the  standpoint  of 
its  relation  to  man's  activities. 

The  motive  of  the  student  of  commerce  in  studying  such 
factors  as  soil,  cUmate,  etc.,  is  not  the  same,  then,  as  in  the 
scientific  study  of  physiography.  No  fact  is  considered 
unless  it  has  some  bearing  on  the  progress  of  commerce  on  the 
earth,  and  no  fact  is  studied  unless  that  connection  is  actually 
brought  out.  The  proper  study  of  physiography  has  the  ad- 
vantage of  throwing  light  upon  the  manner  in  which  the  study 
of  commercial  geography  can  become  most  fruitful.  The 
old  study  of  physical  geography  consisted  of  an  account  of 
the  structure  of  the  earth's  surface.  The  new  physical  geog- 
raphy puts  the  emphasis  upon  the  forces  which  brought  the 
changes  upon  the  earth's  surface.  Just  so,  our  study  of  com- 
mercial geography  should  deal  with  forces  operating  to  pro- 
duce changes,  rather  than  mere  dead  facts.  This  leads  us  to 
note  that  there  are  other  forces  which  give  rise  to  the  facts  of 
commerce  besides  those  of  nature  :  the  activities  initiated  by 
man  himself  in  moulding  the  environment  for  his  own  pur- 
poses.    We  must  therefore  note  : 

(3)  The  Human  Factors  influencing  Commerce.  —  These 
include    labor,   transportation,   money   and    banking,    laws, 


Commercial  Geography  235 

weights  and  measures,  and  government  agencies.  Among 
these  factors,  the  element  of  transportation  is  usually  included 
in  the  ordinary  school  course,  because  it  is  so  closely  con- 
nected with  geography  proper,  in  view  of  the  fact  that  the 
large  distances  which  separate  people  from  the  source  of  pro- 
duction and  the  source  of  manufacture  necessitate  agencies 
for  transportation.  But  there  are  a  number  of  other  ele- 
ments which  are  not  strictly  geographic  in  nature  and  which 
are  of  the  highest  importance  in  facilitating  the  exchange  of 
products  on  earth.  Some  of  these  factors,  like  money  and 
banking,  are  generally  included  in  the  course  on  Economics. 
It  may  be  wise  to  defer  the  consideration  of  other  human  fac- 
tors to  another  course,  which  we  shall  call  the  Technique  of 
Commerce,  and  which  we  shall  treat  in  a  separate  chapter. 
However,  the  government  agencies  influencing  commerce 
are  of  such  an  important  nature  and  so  generally  overlooked, 
that  we  take  this  occasion  to  refer  at  some  length  to  the  reasons 
for  giving  extended  consideration  to  this  topic. 

The  facts  connected  with  government  activity  in  promoting 
commerce  and  industry  are  not  generally  found  in  the  or- 
dinary text-book,  but  the  government  reports,  and  condensa- 
tions of  these  reports  as  found  in  the  almanacs,  are  of  great 
value  in  giving  students  an  insight  into  the  positive  or  busi- 
ness side  of  the  government  contributions  to  commerce.  The 
indirect  aid  which  the  government  gives  to  commerce  is,  of 
course,  well  understood.  If  it  did  not  give  protection  to  its 
citizens  in  the  carrying  on  of  their  lawful  pursuits,  commerce 
would  be  impossible.  We  see  how  commerce  is  crippled  when 
the  stability  of  the  government  is  threatened  or  when  a  stable 
government  is  lacking.  The  relation  of  the  government  to 
the  making  of  laws  to  protect  citizens  at  home  and  abroad, 
and  establishing  uniform  systems  of  weights,  measures,  and 


236    Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

coinage,  —  these  are  all  well  understood.  But  still,  the  in- 
fluence of  these  factors  upon  commerce  should  be  discussed, 
because  the  appreciation  of  the  value  of  this  factor  is  height- 
ened by  such  discussion,  and  the  student  will  get  a  much  better 
idea  of  the  worth  of  his  government.  The  direct  aid  of  the 
government  to  commerce,  however,  is  generally  overlooked. 
Thus,  the  State  Department,  through  the  consular  system  in 
cooperation  with  the  Department  of  Commerce,  is  a  most 
valuable  agency  of  the  United  States  government  in  furnishing 
to  American  merchants  an  account  of  the  state  of  commerce 
in  foreign  countries,  and  of  the  trade  opportunities  that  are 
offered  to  merchants  in  various  parts  of  the  world.  The  De- 
partment of  Agriculture  is  aiding,  in  a  most  direct  way,  the 
agriculture  of  the  country  by  helping  to  increase  the  produc- 
tiveness of  the  soil  by  the  elimination  of  waste  through  the 
prevention  of  plant  and  animal  diseases,  by  its  protection  of 
the  nation's  food  supply,  and  in  numerous  other  ways.  It  is 
necessary  for  students  to  know  about  these  activities,  not 
merely  because  thereby  they  learn  more  about  their  govern- 
ment, but  because  thereby  they  also  learn  how  to  avail  them- 
selves of  the  faciHties  which  the  government  affords  them. 
The  work  of  the  Departments  of  Commerce  and  Labor,  in- 
cluding such  bureaus  as  the  Immigration  Bureau,  Bureau  of 
Corporations,  and  the  Bureau  of  Foreign  and  Domestic  Com- 
merce, is  also  of  the  highest  importance.  Here,  again,  the 
discussion  of  the  work  of  the  departments  leads  to  the  con- 
sideration of  many  large  problems  of  vital  interest  to  the 
citizen.  Thus,  the  discussion  of  the  Immigration  Bureau 
naturally  leads  to  the  problem  of  immigration,  the  labor 
problem  in  the  United  States,  and  various  related  topics. 
Here  we  must  again  emphasize  the  fact  that  information 
as  such  is  of  httle  value  if  it  does  not  lead  to  a  discussion 


Commercial  Geography  237 

and  to  a  better  insight  as  to  the  value  of  such  information. 
If  the  objection  is  made  that  such  information  is  not  readily 
available,  the  answer  is  that  if  the  teacher  is  looking  for 
a  text-book  in  which  all  these  data  are  compiled,  he  will  be 
disappointed.  We  shall  note  below  how  the  teacher  can 
gather  data  for  the  study  of  these  apparently  inaccessible 
topics,  and  how  readily  he  can  make  them  accessible. 

(4)  General  Geography  to  be  Included.  —  The  study  of  com- 
mercial geography  should  also  include,  of  course,  a  considera- 
tion of  what  might  be  called  geography  in  the  old  sense,  —  the 
study  of  the  different  countries  of  the  earth,  their  important 
industries,  their  large  trade  centres,  etc.  But  in  studying 
these  other  countries,  we  must  make  a  judicious  selection. 
Book  knowledge,  for  its  own  sake,  must  be  shunned.  What 
principles  shall  we  follow  in  selecting  our  topics?  First,  of 
course,  we  must  understand  the  geography  of  the  United 
States.  But  even  here  we  can  emphasize  certain  facts  and 
suppress  others.  We  are  all  aware  how  the  old  geography 
regarded  it  a  matter  of  the  highest  importance  for  a  pupil  to 
know  the  capitals  of  all  the  different  states  of  the  Union. 
The  standpoint  of  commercial  geography  is  entirely  different. 
Thus,  taking  New  York  State  as  an  example :  even  though 
Albany  is  the  capital  of  the  state,  we  regard  Buffalo  or  Roches- 
ter as  more  important  cities.  In  many  states  the  capital  is 
a  very  unimportant  place,  and  the  knowledge  of  it  is  of  no 
importance.  If  we  were  training  post-ofl&ce  clerks,  we  would 
make  it  a  specialty  to  teach  them  the  location  of  as  many 
places  in  the  United  States  as  possible.  But  as  no  fact  is 
considered  important  that  does  not  enter  into  relation  with  us 
in  an  industrial,  commercial,  or  social  way,  we  have  to  select 
our  facts  upon  that  basis.  In  considering  the  geography  of 
the  United  States  by  sections,  it  may  be  well  not  to  take  the 


238    Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

state  as  the  unit,  but  rather  the  section.  Thus,  for  example, 
New  England  would  be  a  unit  of  study,  not  the  individual 
state.  From  the  standpoint  of  commerce,  state  Hnes  may 
frequently  be  neglected.  Commercially,  Jersey  City  and 
Hoboken  are  part  of  New  York  City,  although  politically 
they  belong  to  another  state. 

Next  to  the  study  of  the  United  States  and  of  the  state  in 
which  the  student  lives,  the  study  of  England,  Germany,  and 
France  looms  up  in  importance.  These  are  the  three  great 
European  countries  with  which  our  trade  relations  are  most 
important.  Consequently,  it  will  be  necessary  for  us  to  note 
the  geography  of  these  countries,  but  principally  with  refer- 
ence to  our  trade  relations  with  them.  The  detailed  internal 
geography  of  these  countries  is  not  important,  except  to  the 
extent  to  which  it  explains  the  progress  of  certain  industries 
in  those  countries.  For  example,  it  may  be  important  to 
explain  certain  factors  which  have  contributed  to  the  su- 
premacy of  England  in  the  field  of  cotton  manufactures. 
This  consideration  might  lead  us  to  discussion  of  natural 
conditions  in  England.  As  a  general  rule,  however,  unless 
the  fact  enters  into  our  commercial  Hfe  in  some  way,  or  unless 
it  explains  a  certain  phase  in  the  mastery  by  man  of  his  en- 
vironment, it  may  be  neglected.  One  fault  that  must  be 
avoided  is  the  learning  of  mere  lists  of  exports  and  imports  of 
the  country.  This  is  the  merest  kind  of  book-learning  or 
fact-lore,  that  leads  to  nothing.  We  must  repeat  again  the 
injunction  that  no  facts  are  to  be  taught  unless  they  have 
some  significance  in  relation  to  our  own  activity. 

The  other  European  countries  that  may  be  included  are 
Italy,  Russia,  and  Austria-Hungary.  The  reason  for  such 
inclusion  is  the  fact  that  these  countries  furnish  a  large  body 
of  immigrants,  and  the  understanding  of  economic  conditions 


Commercial  Geography  239 

in  those  countries  gives  us  a  better  insight  into  the  labor  prob- 
lem in  the  United  States,  and  helps  to  explain  our  trade  re- 
lations with  those  countries.  If  the  objection  is  made  that 
we  are  leaving  the  student  in  ignorance  of  important  countries 
like  Sweden  or  Greece  or  Spain,  the  answer  is  that  we  are 
compelled  to  make  a  selection.  It  is  better  to  have  an  in- 
tensive knowledge  of  a  few  facts  than  a  superficial  knowledge 
of  a  great  many.  The  most  valuable  substitute  we  could 
give  to  the  student  for  the  large  mass  of  facts  is  the  ability 
to  find  the  facts  for  himself  when  he  needs  them,  —  the  ability 
to  use  reference  books.  How  the  student  can  be  trained  in 
this  direction  will  be  discussed  in  connection  with  aids  in 
commercial  geography. 

For  obvious  reasons,  our  American  neighbors,  Canada  and 
Mexico,  must  not  be  overlooked  in  our  study.  As  for  the 
South  American  countries,  we  may  take  Brazil,  because  of 
the  tremendous  importance  of  its  two  crops,  coffee  and  rubber ; 
Argentina,  because  of  its  beef ;  and  ChiH,  because  of  its  nitre 
and  its  general  commercial  progressiveness.  Asia  would 
be  represented  in  our  course  by  Japan,  China,  and  India. 
Our  trade  relations  with  the  Orient  are  of  the  utmost  impor- 
tance, not  because  of  their  present  status,  but  because  of  the 
unbounded  possibilities  which  the  Panama  Canal  to  a  large 
extent  will  help  to  realize.  These  countries,  with  their  very 
large  population,  are  only  beginning  now  to  demand  those 
luxuries  of  the  western  world  which  in  our  world  have  come 
to  be  considered  necessities.  Their  increasing  demand  will 
lead  to  increased  trade  with  the  United  States,  their  nearest 
neighbor.  The  trade  opportunities  for  American  merchants 
will  therefore  become  multipHed  many-fold  within  the  next 
few  years,  and  the  student  should  therefore  come  to  a  realiza- 
tion of  these  opportunities.     One  of  the  things  which  a  student 


240    Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

in  commercial  geography  should  cultivate  is  the  imagina- 
tion. This  is  cultivated  not  only  by  a  view  of  the  present 
conditions  as  they  are  pictured  by  the  mind,  but  by  the  pos- 
sible future  conditions  which  we  may  expect.  The  man  of 
imagination,  we  may  say  paradoxically,  is  the  best  business 
man,  because  he  adjusts  his  activities  not  only  to  present 
needs,  but  also  to  the  larger  needs  of  the  future. 

Our  trade  with  the  West  Indies,  of  course,  will  have  to  re- 
ceive due  consideration,  although  the  particular  geography 
of  the  several  West  India  Islands  and  the  various  capitals 
may  not  be  of  such  great  importance.  There  are  at  least 
three  staples  of  commerce  that  figure  in  the  West  India  trade  : 
tobacco,  sugar,  and  fruit.  Again  we  must  mention  that  a 
study  of  these  products  can  be  best  accomphshed  not  by  merely 
reciting  their  names  or  by  telHng  what  countries  they  come 
from,  but  by  relating  them  to  some  agency  or  activity  which 
influences  them.  Thus,  the  West  India  fruit  trade  is  largely 
in  the  hands  of  the  United  Fruit  Company.  The  study  of 
the  activity  of  the  United  Fruit  Company  is  a  much  better 
means  of  organizing  the  subject  of  the  fruit  trade  in  the  West 
Indies  than  a  consideration  of  the  geography  of  the  different 
places  from  which  the  fruit  comes.  Our  trade  relations  with 
the  Philippines  will,  of  course,  receive  due  attention,  because 
the  Philippine  Islands  are  a  possession  of  the  United  States. 
Australia  and  New  Zealand  are  not  so  important  to  us  now, 
but  they  may  become  much  more  important  on  account  of 
the  Panama  Canal.  In  that  case,  Australian  products  will 
have  to  receive  proper  attention.  The  continent  of  Africa 
is  of  the  least  importance,  commercially.  There  are  a  few 
factors  connected  with  it,  that  may  be  of  value,  such  as  the 
gold  and  diamond  supply  of  British  South  Africa.  But  the 
geographic  facts  may  be  noticed  as  an  incident  to  other  topics 


Commercial  Geography  241 

studied.  Thus  when  the  question  of  a  coast  line  is  considered, 
Africa  may  be  used  as  an  illustration  of  how  an  unindented 
coast  Une  results  in  few  harbors,  and  therefore,  in  little  com- 
merce. The  Congo  region  is  another  illustration  of  a  topic 
noted  incidentally  in  connection  with  the  study  of  the  rubber 
supply  of  Brazil. 

SELECTION   OF   MATERIAL 

Illustrated  by  the  Topic  of  Materials  of  Commerce.  —  We 
saw  the  difhculty  of  the  study  of  commercial  geography  due 
to  the  large  mass  of  facts,  and  we  stated  that  it  was  absolutely 
necessary  to  make  a  selection.  The  principle  of  selection  we 
also  stated  to  be  this :  Facts  selected  were  to  have  some  re- 
lation to  the  possible  industrial  activity  of  the  individual 
student.  We  found,  therefore,  that  we  would  have  to  reject 
such  topics  as  the  detailed  studv  of  Africa,  the  study  of  cer- 
tain countries  of  Europe,  etc.  We  also  found  that  we  had  to 
make  a  selection  of  a  few  of  the  products  among  all  the  ma- 
terials of  commerce.  We  may  illustrate  from  materials  of 
commerce  such  a  selection  of  facts  and  the  principles  to  be 
followed  in  such  selection. 

(a)  Select  those  which  are  most  important  to  the  United 
States,  because  of  their  magnitude.  Corn  is  an  illustration  of 
such  a  product.  We  must  study  it  not  only  because  it  is  by 
far  the  greatest  single  crop  of  the  United  States  and  the  most 
valuable  single  product,  but  because  the  meat  supply  of  the 
country  depends  upon  this  crop. 

{h)  Select  those  which  are  illustrative  of  important  phases  of 
industry.  We  select  iron  and  steel  on  this  principle,  because 
the  industry  involves  a  number  of  stages  of  manufacturing, 
and  it  enters  into  the  industrial  activity  of  the  United  States 
to  a  greater  extent,  perhaps,  than  any  other  single  industry. 


242     Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

(c)  Select  those  which  enter  largely  into  international 
trade.  On  this  principle  we  select  cotton,  because  it  is  the 
greatest  single  export  product  of  the  United  States.  This 
product  helps  to  create  the  favorable  balance  of  trade,  and 
thus  makes  the  United  States  a  creditor  nation. 

{d)  Select  those  which  illustrate  utilization  of  by-products. 
Petroleum  is  a  good  illustration  of  such  a  material.  The 
by-products  in  the  refinement  of  crude  petroleum  to-day  are 
much  more  valuable  than  the  kerosene,  which  at  one  time 
was  considered  the  only  useful  product  of  the  refinement. 
The  importance  of  the  utilization  of  by-products  lies  in  the  fact 
that  not  only  is  the  total  wealth  of  the  country  increased  in 
that  way,  but  the  main  product  is  reduced  in  price,  because  of 
the  elimination  of  waste.  The  cattle  products  and  the  pack- 
ing industry  may  also  be  considered  as  an  excellent  illustration 
of  the  utilization  of  by-products.  The  familiar  saying  that 
"  everything  of  the  pig  is  utilized  except  the  squeal,"  illustrates 
this  fact. 

(e)  Select  those  which  are  indispensable  to  the  great  indus- 
tries of  the  United  States.  Thus  copper  might  also  be  con- 
sidered, because  of  its  great  importance  in  the  electrical 
industry  and  because  the  United  States  is  the  greatest  pro- 
ducer of  this  product. 

(/)  Select  the  most  important  food  product  in  the  coun- 
try. In  the  greater  part  of  the  civiHzed  world  it  is  wheat. 
Naturally,  there  is  nothing  more  important  than  the  food 
supply  of  a  country,  but  in  addition,  wheat  should  be  con- 
sidered in  relation  to  its  effect  on  the  railroad  business  of  the 
country.  The  annual  shipment  in  the  fall  of  the  harvested 
wheat  to  the  Atlantic  Coast  is  one  of  the  greatest  sources  of 
revenue  for  the  railroads.  If  the  shipments  of  wheat  are  large, 
the  business  of  the  railroad  is  large,  the  business  of  the  steel 


Commercial  Geography  243 

mills  is  large,  because  the  railroads  are  their  greatest  cus- 
tomers, and  other  industries  are  correspondingly  benefited, 
owing  to  the  increased  buying  capacity  of  the  workers.  Thus 
we  see  that  the  consideration  of  the  relation  of  the  wheat  crop 
leads  us  to  a  study  of  the  relation  of  the  size  of  the  crop  of  the 
country  to  its  wealth  as  a  whole. 

(g)  There  is  one  product,  gold,  which  should  be  considered 
for  a  special  reason  of  its  own.  It  ought  to  be  studied  be- 
cause of  its  importance  as  a  medium  of  exchange,  and  the 
relation  of  the  gold  supply  to  high  prices.  There  may  be  a 
number  of  products  which  we  may  have  omitted  from  the 
list,  such  as  tobacco,  sugar,  coffee,  etc.,  but  these  products 
time  does  not  allow  us  to  treat  independently.  We  may  con- 
sider them  in  relation  to  the  country  in  which  they  play  an 
important  part.  Thus,  coffee  should  be  treated  in  some  detail 
when  we  come  to  study  the  geography  of  Brazil. 

ORGANIZATION   OF   MATERIAL 

How  shall  we  organize  the  facts  selected,  as,  for  example,  the 
materials  of  commerce  noted  above,  so  as  to  hold  them  in  mind, 
so  as  to  give  them  significance,  and  so  as  to  relate  them  with 
the  other  facts  in  our  possession  in  a  complete  system.  We 
may  state  the  following  principles  of  organization  : 

(a)  A  knowledge  of  facts  without  interpretation  is  of  little 
value.  By  interpretation,  we  mean  the  discovery  of  the 
causal  relation  of  the  facts,  the  explanation  of  the  fact  by 
showing  its  relation  to  a  cause,  and  by  tracing  the  effect  of 
this  fact  upon  other  facts. 

(b)  Hence,  pupils  should  not  be  asked  to  memorize  facts 
which  have  no  significance.  This  point  has  been  stated  be- 
fore. The  more  significant  the  associations  gathered  around 
a  fact,  the  more  likely  is  it  to  remain  in  mind. 


244     Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

{c)  How  shall  we  organize  our  knowledge  of  figures  ?  Com- 
mercial geography  deals  with  statistics  and  many  of  the 
figures  are  of  importance  and  should  be  remembered,  but  in 
this  connection  we  must  remember  that  abstract  figures  are 
of  little  significance.  By  this  we  imply  that  there  is  no 
meaning  revealed  to  the  ordinary  mind  by  the  mere  fact  that 
the  total  quantity  of  steel  produced  by  the  United  States  is 
over  26  million  tons.  The  mind  does  not  grasp  the  impor- 
tance of  this  fact.  But  when  we  compare  this  quantity  with 
that  produced  by  Germany,  —  13  million  tons,  — we  begin 
to  draw  inferences,  and  note  that  the  United  States  pro- 
duces twice  as  much  steel  as  our  nearest  competitor.  Relative 
figures  are  therefore  much  more  important  than  absolute 
figures,  and  graphic  methods  are  the  best  means  of  organizing 
statistical  facts  by  bringing  out  the  quantitative  relationship 
between  the  figures.  In  connection  with  aids  in  commercial 
geography,  we  shall  discuss  a  Kttle  more  fully  the  importance 
of  graphs  in  commercial  geography. 

{d)  Another  method  of  organization  is  to  follow  a  certain 
factor  through  its  various  stages,  to  view  it  through  its  various 
transformations,  and  trace  its  progress  from  its  origin  to  its 
destination.  There  is  nothing  that  adds  so  much  to  the  in- 
terest of  the  study,  there  is  nothing  that  helps  so  much  to 
transform  the  study  from  a  static  to  a  dynamic  one,  and  there 
is  nothing  that  helps  to  focus  the  attention  upon  function  rather 
than  facts,  as  does  this  procedure.  Thus,  we  may  follow  iron, 
starting  with  the  mining  of  the  ore  and  its  transportation  to 
the  blast  furnaces,  considering  its  transformation  into  pig 
iron,  its  manufacture  into  steel  bars,  the  rolling  of  these  bars 
into  rails,  and  the  laying  of  these  rails  upon  our  railroad  tracks. 
In  this  way,  we  not  only  attain  an  organized  view  of  the  value 
of  iron  as  a  product,  but  we  note  the  human  agencies  which  are 


Commercial  Geography  245 

necessary  to  transform  the  iron  so  as  to  make  it  most  useful 
to  man,  and  we  note  all  the  organized  effort  which  this  necessi- 
tates in  the  way  of  transportation,  manufacture,  etc.  The 
net  result  is  to  give  us  a  view  of  iron  not  as  a  thing,  but  as  a 
promoter  of  industry  and  a  satisfier  of  needs. 

(e)  In  all  our  organization  of  facts,  we  must  dwell  upon  the 
importance  of  causal  relationship.  In  order  to  show  that  a 
certain  factor  is  a  cause,  we  use  a  method  which  we  may  con- 
sider the  method  of  hypothesis.  We  see  a  certain  condition, 
such  as  the  development  of  a  great  cotton  industry  in  New 
England,  and  we  are  not  satisfied  with  the  mere  fact  of  saying 
that  there  is  a  great  industry  in  that  section,  but  we  inquire 
as  to  the  cause  of  such  development.  In  order  to  find  an 
explanation  for  this  phenomenon,  we  consider  the  general 
factors  which  promote  an  industry,  and  we  assume  that  New 
England  must  have  these  conditions.  We  look  around  and 
find  its  great  water  power,  its  great  supply  of  labor,  its  near- 
ness to  the  market,  and  its  early  start  in  the  industry  ;  and  we 
find  that  these  factors  explain  the  greatness  of  the  industry. 
We  therefore  call  them  causes.  On  the  other  hand,  we  see 
that  the  cotton  industry  in  the  South  is  not  as  great  as  we 
might  expect.  We  look  at  the  conditions,  and  we  find  the 
absence  of  rehable  labor,  and  this  explains  why,  in  spite  of 
other  natural  conditions,  the  South  cannot  compete  with  New 
England  in  the  manufacture  of  cotton.  This  shows  us 
another  way  in  which  we  arrive  at  causal  relationship,  —  a 
very  striking  way.  The  writers  on  logic  call  it  the  Method  of 
Difference.  For  example,  the  country  is  prosperous,  and  we 
should  expect  its  prosperity  to  continue.  All  of  a  sudden, 
we  find  the  wheels  of  industry  are  stopped.  What  has  hap- 
pened? A  certain  condition  has  been  changed.  A  money 
stringency  has  arisen,  the  banks  have  called  in  their  loans,  and 


246     Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

manufacturers  have  consequently  been  compelled  to  close 
their  shops.  The  change  in  prosperity  is  therefore  attributed 
to  the  change  in  this  condition,  other  factors  remaining  the 
same.  The  method  of  difference  should  be  continually  used 
in  order  to  explain  a  given  situation.  What  is  lacking  in 
Mexico,  we  ask?  With  all  its  natural  resources,  we  see  the 
difference  between  Mexico  and  the  United  States.  The  answer 
is,  lack  of  something  which  the  latter  possesses,  —  stable  gov- 
ernment and  education. 

AIDS   IN  COMMERCIAL  GEOGRAPHY 

I.  The  Text-hook.  —  This  is  the  only  aid  with  which  some 
teachers  are  familiar.  Of  course,  it  has  some  uses,  {a)  As 
a  source  of  reference  for  facts.  In  the  assignment  of  lessons 
in  the  text-book,  the  teacher  need  not  necessarily  follow  the 
order  of  topics  in  the  book.  He  may,  and  should,  assign  by 
topics,  and  let  the  student,  by  use  of  the  table  of  contents  and 
the  index,  find  the  treatment  of  the  topic  assigned,  {h)  As  a 
means  of  keeping  the  class  together.  Whatever  the  values  of 
individual  assignment  of  problems  may  be,  it  nevertheless 
remains  a  fact  that  there  should  be  a  common  basis  upon  which 
the  pupils  should  build  their  knowledge.  The  text-book,  in  a 
sense,  represents  the  medium  which  unifies  the  work  of  the 
different  pupils,  and  furnishes  the  organized  review  of  the 
subject,  (c)  While  the  ordinary  text-book  method  by  which 
the  teacher  assigns  his  lessons  and  hears  recitations  is  grossly 
inadequate,  at  the  same  time  the  text-book  as  a  means  of 
review  is  of  great  importance,  and  may  be  read  with  great 
interest  by  a  person  who  has  had  an  intelligent  background 
of  experience,  which  the  text  supplements,  {d)  The  text-book 
is  an  aid  in  the  organization  of  facts,  because  it  gives  to  the 
student  types  of  organization.     It  makes  comparisons,  looks 


Commercial  Geography  247 

for  causal  relations,  and  finds  them,  (e)  By  means  of  sug- 
gestive causes  and  problems,  it  stimulates  the  pupil  to  investi- 
gation and  research. 

The  limitation  of  the  text-book,  we  have  noted  incidentally. 
{a)  It  cannot  bring  the  facts  up  to  date,  because  facts  change 
and  statistics  are  different  from  year  to  year.  The  pupil 
must  therefore  bring  facts  up  to  date  by  means  of  reference 
books,  ih)  The  text-book  gives  the  facts  and  generally  gives 
the  explanation  of  causes.  It  therefore  checks  self-activity. 
It  is  true  that  the  student  will  have  to  exercise  his  mind  in 
order  to  think  over  the  explanations  of  the  text-book,  but,  in 
general,  he  may  simply  take  them  as  dead  facts  and  memorize 
them.  This  is  the  main  difficulty  of  the  text-book  recitation 
method.  For  that  reason,  the  progressive  teacher  will  use  the 
text-book  only  as  an  aid  in  providing  material,  and  make  use, 
to  a  large  extent,  of  other  aids. 

2.  Reference  Books.  —  Among  the  reference  books  are  al- 
manacs, encyclopaedias,  and  government  reports.  The  alma- 
nacs are  mines  of  information  on  many  topics,  —  information 
that  is  available  when  it  is  needed.  The  mistake  that  many 
text-book  writers  make  is  to  cram  their  books  with  information, 
so  as  to  make  it  relatively  complete  and  take  the  place  of  the 
reference  books  in  that  way.  The  pupil  therefore  imagines 
that  these  facts  are  to  be  crammed.  Many  facts  need  not 
even  be  remembered,  but  the  student  should  be  taught  how  to 
find  them  whenever  they  are  needed.  One  of  the  most  impor- 
tant abilities  that  the  teacher  can  cultivate  in  the  pupils  is  the 
power  to  use  reference  books,  because  in  that  way  he  gives 
them  the  power  to  help  themselves  by  finding  their  own  infor- 
mation when  the  teacher  is  not  there  to  give  it  to  them.  We 
see  how  helpless  many  people  are  in  the  matter  of  finding 
information  on  a  number  of  simple  topics,  because  they  have 


248     Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Educalio 

never  been  taught  how  to  find  the  information  for  themselves. 
The  student  must  be  taught  how  to  use  a  table  of  contents  and 
index.  He  must  be  taught  how  to  use  a  catalogue,  how  to  con- 
sult a  bibliography,  how  to  find  magazine  articles  on  the 
particular  subject  on  which  he  is  working,  how  to  find  the 
information  he  is  looking  for  in  the  almanac,  the  encyclo- 
paedia, or  the  government  report.  (A  list  of  important  refer- 
ences and  government  publications  will  be  found  in  the  appen- 
dix to  this  chapter.) 

But  in  the  assignment  of  topics  to  students  for  research, 
we  must  avoid  certain  mistakes.  One  of  them  is,  to  confine 
the  benefits  derived  from  the  topic  for  research  to  the  partic- 
ular student  who  is  undertaking  it.  This  is  a  common  fault 
of  the  seminar  method  as  it  is  extensively  used  in  colleges  and 
universities.  The  other  students  should  not  only  have  a 
general  knowledge  of  the  topic  on  which  the  particular 
student  has  specialized,  but  such  knowledge  should  be  im- 
pressed by  discussion  in  the  class  upon  the  report  of  the 
student  who  has  made  a  special  investigation,  and  by  holding 
the  other  students  responsible  for  a  general  knowledge  of  the 
conclusions  reached  by  the  student  who  has  made  a  special 
investigation.  Another  fault  which  might  be  found  in  the 
secondary  schools  is  that  students  will  present  discussions  and 
reports  which  they  themselves  do  not  understand,  because 
they  have  copied  the  conclusions  of  others  as  they  found  them. 
Questioning  on  the  part  of  the  teacher  will  avoid  this  difficulty. 
Another  difficulty  might  be  that  students  will  become  pedantic 
or  desire  to  make  a  display  of  their  diligence.  This  is  not 
really  a  serious  difficulty,  and  is  a  matter  the  handhng  of 
which  will  depend  upon  the  tact  of  the  teacher. 

We  may  note  some  suggestions  on  how  the  ability  to  use 
reference  books  can  be  acquired.     The  basis  for  this  ability 


Commercial  Geography  249 

is  the  knowledge  of  how  to  use  an  index  or  a  catalogue, 
and  an  acquaintance  with  popular  reference  books  like  the 
World  Almanac  or  the  Encyclopaedia.  Skill  in  the  use  of 
reference  books  can  be  developed  only  by  practice,  and  the 
following  are  some  of  the  ways  in  which  opportunities  for 
practice  can  be  given  : 

(a)  Lessons  should  be  assigned  by  topics,  instead  of  by 
pages,  so  as  to  compel  the  student  to  resort  to  the  index. 

(b)  Assignments  should  be  made  which  are  not  fully 
covered  by  the  text-book,  and  will  compel  the  student  to  go 
to  the  library  in  order  to  obtain  the  information  in  some 
other  text-book  or  in  reference  books. 

(c)  Statistical  facts  and  figures  should  frequently  be  looked 
up  by  the  students  themselves,  and  not  handed  to  them.  For 
this  purpose  a  large  number  of  convenient  reference  books, 
like  the  World  Almanac,  should  be  in  the  hands  of  the  class. 
If  possible,  every  student  should  have  a  copy  of  his  own. 

(d)  A  number  of  convenient  statistical  reference  books, 
such  as  BulHnger's  Monitor  Guides,  Lloyds'  publications,  and 
certain  United  States  government  bulletins  should  be  found  in 
the  commercial  library  of  the  school,  so  as  to  facilitate 
research. 

(e)  Special  lessons  on  the  use  of  reference  books  should  be 
given  in  the  class,  and  the  students  given  a  knowledge  of 
what  the  various  sources  of  information  are,  and  practical 
drill,  under  the  direction  of  the  teacher,  on  how  to  find  a 
certain  piece  of  information. 

(/)  Certain  questions  of  fact,  such  as  are  frequently  foimd 
in  the  inquiry  column  of  a  newspaper,  may  be  proposed  to 
different  members  of  the  class,  who  may  be  required  to  find 
the  answer  in  the  reference  book.  At  first  the  possible  hnes 
of  research  to  discover  the  fact  may  be  discussed  in  the  class, 


250    Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

but  later  on  the  question  should  be  assigned  without  any 
clue  to  the  student.  To  insure  honest  work  in  this  con- 
nection, no  two  students  should  receive  the  same  questions. 

3.  Observation  Trips.  —  We  found  that  one  of  the  necessities 
in  commercial  geography  is  a  proper  background  of  first- 
hand information  on  the  basis  of  which  the  student  can  gen- 
eralize. This  is  to  be  supplied  by  the  observation  trips. 
Such  trips  to  business  houses  and  industrial  plants  are  well 
known.  Unfortunately,  they  have  frequently  failed  of  their 
true  purpose,  because  they  have  been  looked  upon  as  mere 
holidays,  and  because  the  teacher  has  not  definitely  kept  in 
mind  the  purpose  of  the  trip.  The  following  principles  to 
be  observed  will  suggest  the  way  in  which  these  trips  can  be 
made  of  the  highest  educational  importance. 

{a)  There  should  be  a  definiteness  of  aim.  If  the  pupils 
are  going  to  a  particular  plant,  the  teacher  should  know  why 
he  has  selected  that  plant  and  what  he  is  aiming  to  accompHsh 
by  the  particular  visit.  This  aim  should  be  not  only  in  the 
teacher's  mind,  but  in  the  pupil's  as  well. 

{h)  Most  of  the  difficulties  in  the  observation  trips  arise  from 
the  fact  that  the  student's  attention  is  too  scattered  by  the 
novelty  of  the  situation  to  enable  him  to  observe  the  things 
which  the  teacher  wants  him  to  observe.  This  trouble  can 
be  obviated  by  suggestive  questions  given  out  by  the  teacher 
in  advance  of  the  trip,  to  be  answered  by  the  pupil's  indi- 
vidual observation.  The  student  will  therefore  be  on  the 
look-out  for  the  facts  which  are  necessary  to  enable  him  to 
solve  his  problem. 

(c)  Special  problems  may  be  given  to  particular  students, 
so  that  while  the  whole  class  will  get  a  view  of  the  object  of 
the  observation  trip  as  a  whole,  particular  pupils  will  make  it 
their  business  to  make  an  intensive  study  of  certain  phases. 


Commercial  Geography  251 

(d)  The  most  important  part  of  the  observation  trip, 
perhaps,  is  the  discussion  and  the  reports  after  the  trip. 
This  phase  is  frequently  neglected.  It  is  the  unifying  factor 
in  the  observation  trip.  It  brings  together  the  various  obser- 
vations of  the  pupils,  it  results  in  the  exchange  of  ideas  and  the 
stimulation  of  thought,  and  it  leads  to  the  inquiry  of  causal 
relationship. 

4.  Commercial  Museums.  —  The  commercial  museum  has 
become  a  very  important  adjunct  to  the  course  in  commercial 
geography.  It  furnishes  the  concrete  material  that  is  so  neces- 
sary in  the  study  of  materials  of  commerce.  Its  purpose  is 
twofold :  first,  to  illustrate  concretely  the  materials  of  com- 
merce; secondly,  to  trace  the  product  through  its  various 
stages  of  manufacture  by  showing  samples  of  the  product  in 
the  various  stages  of  manufacture.  Sometimes  the  commercial 
museum  will  also  include  a  number  of  technical  forms  and 
instruments  of  commerce,  such  as  various  kinds  of  commercial 
papers,  time-tables,  charts,  and  other  supplementary  material 
necessary  to  explain  the  technique  of  commerce.  Material 
for  a  commercial  museum  may  be  gathered  with  very  Httle 
difficulty.  Business  men  and  manufacturers  are  ready  to  aid 
educational  institutions  by  sending  samples  of  their  products. 
The  important  thing,  however,  is  to  classify  such  materials, 
and  to  catalogue  them  so  as  to  make  them  available  for  class- 
room use.  The  mere  putting  away  of  material  in  cabinets  for 
show  purposes  is  not  taking  advantage  of  the  opportunity  at 
hand.  It  may  be  that  a  classification  of  the  products  in 
accordance  with  the  old  type  of  food,  clothing,  and  shelter, 
is  as  good  as  any.  A  twofold  classification  of  the  products 
may  also  be  advisable :  first,  a  collection  of  raw  materials  of 
commerce,  and,  secondly,  a  separate  collection  of  materials  in 
their  various  stages  of  transformation. 


252     Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

5.  Pictures,  Stereo pticons,  and  Moving  Pictures.  —  Pictures 
are  an  important  concrete  aid  where  the  faciUties  for  first- 
hand observation  are  lacking.  They  give  us  a  view  of  how 
other  people  live,  of  how  industries  are  conducted  which  we 
cannot  observe  at  home.  Pictures  are  not  properly  made  use 
of  by  teachers,  because  they  rely  upon  the  fact  that  the  mere 
showing  of  the  picture  will  lead  the  student  to  observe.  This 
is  certainly  not  true,  because  seeing  the  picture  and  observing 
its  details  are  generally  not  synonymous.  In  order  to  make  the 
picture  of  educational  use,  it  should  be  discussed  in  the  class, 
and  the  significant  features  of  it  pointed  out  to  the  students. 
In  that  way,  each  picture  will  furnish  the  equivalent  of  a 
chapter  in  itself.  The  stereopticon  lecturer  who  explains 
the  pictures  unconsciously  shows  the  correct  educational 
principle  by  leading  his  students  not  only  to  see  the  picture, 
but  to  observe  its  details.  The  moving  picture  has  come  into 
modern  hfe  as  a  valuable  educational  adjunct.  By  presenting 
movement  and  change,  it  helps  us  to  see  the  transformation 
which  an  object  undergoes.  It  can  therefore  be  made  an  im- 
portant means  of  showing  students  processes  in  manufacture 
and  industry  in  their  development.  The  disadvantages  of 
both  the  stereopticon  and  moving  pictures  are  that  the  pres- 
entation has  to  be  in  the  form  of  a  lecture,  that  note-taking  is 
out  of  the  question  on  account  of  the  darkness,  and  that 
questions  during  the  lecture  are  impracticable.  These  diffi- 
culties can  be  obviated  to  a  great  extent  by  questions  and  dis- 
cussions after  the  lecture.  These  are  necessary,  otherwise 
the  exhibition  will  degenerate  into  mere  entertainment  with- 
out instruction. 

6.  Maps.  —  The  map  in  the  study  of  commercial  geog- 
raphy is  important,  first,  because  of  the  way  in  which  it  makes 
possible  the  discussion  of  routes  of  commerce ;   secondly,  the 


Commercial  Geography  253 

way  in  which  it  emphasizes  the  relation  between  physiographic 
features  and  commerce.  The  teacher  of  commercial  geog- 
raphy ought  to  have  various  kinds  of  maps. 

(a)  Reference  Maps  for  the  location  of  places  under  dis- 
cussion. These  maps  cannot  be  used  for  study,  because  they 
are  too  complete,  and  contain  too  much  detail. 

(6)  Mercators  Maps.  These  are  maps  designed  to  facilitate 
the  study  of  trade  routes.  On  these  maps  the  meridians  appear 
as  parallel  lines.  They  are  the  only  maps  which  make  it 
possible  to  study  intelligently  the  trade  routes  of  the  world. 
The  disadvantage,  that  the  continents  appear  somewhat  dis- 
torted at  the  north,  is  relatively  of  little  importance. 

(c)  The  Globe.  While  theoretically  all  geography,  in  the 
narrow  sense,  should  be  studied  from,  or  with  the  aid  of,  a 
globe,  practically  this  is  impossible.  The  countries  are  rep- 
resented on  too  small  a  scale,  and  the  difficulty  of  seeing  the 
places  on  the  globe  from  every  part  of  the  room  renders  its  use 
impracticable.  It  should,  however,  be  used  supplementary 
to  the  Mercators  maps  and  as  a  corrective  of  possible  wrong 
impressions. 

{d)  Relief  Maps.  These  are  maps  in  which  the  elevations  of 
the  diff erentcountries  are  represented  in  relief.  They  are  a  use- 
ful aid  in  the  understanding  of  the  relation  between  altitude, 
climate,  and  production,  and  they  are  also  a  great  aid  in  under- 
standing the  obstacles  of  travel  and  the  influence  of  natural 
barriers  upon  commerce. 

{e)  In  the  absence  of  these  relief  maps,  physical  maps  which 
omit  political  divisions  are  a  good  substitute. 

(/)  Commercial  Maps.  These  are  maps  which  are  sub- 
divided according  to  commercial  and  industrial  areas.  They 
serve  to  emphasize  the  fact  that  as  far  as  areas  of  fertility  are 
concerned,  the  political  boundary  is  a  mere  accident. 


254    Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

(g)  Railroad  Maps.  These  maps  should  contain  important 
railroads  of  the  country,  conspicuously  marked.  They  are 
important  for  the  study  of  the  problems  of  inland  transporta- 
tion. Many  may  be  obtained  gratis  from  the  railway  com- 
panies. 

7.  The  Graph.  —  There  is  no  other  method  so  valuable  as  a 
means  of  making  alive  the  dry  figures  in  tables  of  statistics. 
An  analysis  of  the  function  of  statistics  will  make  this  clear. 
Figures  in  themselves  have  as  little  meaning  as  facts  in  them- 
selves. It  is  only  in  relation  to  other  figures  that  they  acquire 
a  meaning.  Without  such  relation  they  are  both  dry  and 
meaningless.  For  this  reason,  the  untrained  mind  finds  itself 
unable  to  grasp  the  content  of  a  column  of  statistics  without 
some  concrete  aid.  Various  devices  have  been  adopted 
to  furnish  such  aid.  Readers  of  popular  newspapers  are 
familiar  with  the  device  adopted  by  writers  on  economic 
subjects,  to  convey  to  the  mind  the  magnitude  of  certain 
figures.  In  all  cases,  some  relative  standard  is  adopted. 
For  example,  the  magnitude  of  the  cotton  crop  of  the  United 
States  is  pictorially  illustrated  by  a  large  bale  of  cotton,  in 
comparison  with  the  size  of  which  the  pictures  of  the  bales 
representing  other  cotton  crops  appear  insignificant.  Simi- 
larly, the  writer  on  the  merchant  marine  of  the  United  States, 
who  wants  to  give  a  most  effective  argument  in  favor  of  a 
measure  to  stimulate  the  growth  of  American  shipping  engaged 
in  foreign  trade,  draws  a  series  of  vessels,,  each  representing 
the  tonnage  of  a  country.  The  tiny  vessel  which  represents 
the  tonnage  of  the  United  States  in  foreign  commerce  looks 
ridiculous  alongside  the  great  monsters  representing  England 
and  Germany,  and  this  form  of  representation  gets  hold  of 
the  imagination  in  a  way  which  endless  columns  of  figures  and 
discussions  will  fail  to  do. 


Commercial  Geography  255 

The  first  function  of  the  graph  in  the  study  of  commercial 
geography  is  to  stimulate  the  mind  to  make  comparisons  of 
the  relative  magnitude  of  a  certain  product  in  different  coun- 
tries, or  the  relative  magnitude  of  different  products  in  the 
same  country.  It  will  be  noticed  that  comparison  necessitates 
a  common  factor  or  denominator.  This  is  the  particular 
product  in  one  case,  or  the  particular  country  in  the  other  case. 
Thus,  it  would  be  valueless,  as  a  general  rule,  to  compare  the 
magnitude  of  the  copper  tonnage  in  the  United  States  with  the 
tonnage  of  coal  in  Germany,  because  the  common  element  of 
comparison  is  lacking.  The  graphic  illustrations,  such  as 
may  be  found  in  any  standard  text-book  on  commercial 
geography,  show  how,  by  means  of  heavy  Knes,  we  can  make 
a  comparison  of  the  magnitude  of  a  product,  such  as  wheat, 
in  different  countries.  A  scale  has  to  be  determined  in 
advance,  and  the  figures  in  the  statistical  table  have  to  be 
reduced  to  that  scale.  Graph  or  cross-section  paper  should 
be  used  for  the  diagram,  because  it  is  more  accurate,  and  be- 
cause it  saves  time. 

Relative  magnitudes  are  sometimes  represented  by  areas 
instead  of  lines.  Thus,  an  entire  circle  represents,  let  us  say, 
the  wheat  crop  of  the  world,  and  different  sectors  of  this  circle, 
cut  in  proportion,  represent  the  magnitude  of  the  crop  in 
different  countries.  The  census  office  makes  extensive  use  of 
the  circle.  In  general,  the  use  of  the  circle  has  certain  dis- 
advantages. First,  because  it  necessitates  coloring  the  dif- 
ferent sectors,  and  secondly,  because  the  eye  finds  it  difficult 
to  grasp  in  an  instant  the  relative  magnitude  of  different 
parts  of  the  circle,  unless  the  contrast  is  striking.  There- 
fore, the  circle  does  not  lend  itself  to  such  accurate  repre- 
sentation as  the  Hne  diagram. 

There  is  another  graph,  to  which  alone  the  term  properly 


256     Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

belongs.  It  is  of  the  highest  utility  in  both  commercial  geog- 
raphy and  history  in  revealing  to  us  growth  and  progress. 
Thus,  if  certain  lines  drawn  to  a  scale  represent  the  popu- 
lation of  the  United  States  in' the  different  decades,  we  may, 
by  connecting  the  ends  of  these  lines,  form  a  curve  which  by  its 
direction  shows  in  a  most  striking  manner  the  upward  trend 
of  the  population  of  the  United  States.  The  curve  is  partic- 
ularly important  in  showing  fluctuations.  Take  a  table  of 
statistics  representing  the  total  exports  and  imports  of  the 
United  States.  Reduce  the  figures  to  a  scale  and  draw  lines 
representing  these  figures.  Join  the  ends  of  these  lines  and 
you  have  a  fluctuating  curve  showing  that  the  progress  of 
commerce  is  not  entirely  in  an  upward  direction ;  that  there 
have  been  fluctuations,  depressions,  and  recoveries.  Simi- 
larly, by  making  one  curve  represent  the  exports  and  another 
curve  in  another  color  of  ink  represent  the  imports,  we  can  see 
by  the  closeness  of  the  approach  of  the  curves  at  different  times 
how  the  balance  of  trade  has  varied  in  different  years.  We  see 
that  they  never  crossed,  showing  that  the  volume  of  exports 
was  never  exactly  equal  to  that  of  the  imports.  The  graphic 
representation  of  these  facts  will  not  only  show  the  state  of 
affairs,  but  will  lead  the  mind  to  search  for  causes  in  explana- 
tion of  the  state  of  affairs.  This  discussion  of  the  facts  and  a 
search  for  causes  which  it  stimulates  will  be  illustrated  in  the 
appendix  of  this  chapter  by  a  lesson  on  the  analysis  of  a  table  of 
statistics. 

It  must  be  remembered  that  those  graphs  are  most  impres- 
sive to  the  student,  which  he  has  constructed  himself.  But 
if  the  time  will  not  allow  for  sufficient  work  of  this  sort  in  the 
class  room  in  commercial  geography,  the  drawing  department 
should  be  enlisted  to  aid  in  this  direction.  Besides,  many  of 
the  graphs  could  be  constructed  at  home  by  the  students. 


Commercial  Geography  257 

Practice  in  the  interpretation  of  graphs  cannot,  however,  be 
confined  to  those  made  by  the  students  themselves.  It  is  of  the 
highest  importance  to  give  the  students  the  abiUty  to  interpret 
facts  and  figures,  and  to  look  for  the  causes  of  facts.  This 
ability  can  be  stimulated  and  developed  only  by  extensive 
analysis  and  discussions.  For  this  purpose,  the  teacher  in 
commercial  geography  will  have  to  have  at  his  command  a 
number  of  graphic  charts  which  can  be  hung  up  on  the  wall. 
Even  without  such  charts,  crude  graphs  drawn  on  the  black- 
board will  be  of  utility  in  the  discussion. 

SPECIAL   METHODS    OF   TEACHING    COMMERCIAL    GEOGRAPHY 

A  great  deal  on  this  topic  has  been  indicated  in  what  has 
been  said  before.  It  will  be  convenient  in  this  place  to  sum  up 
and  to  supplement  some  of  the  matters  treated.  In  what 
follows,  only  rational  methods  are,  of  course,  mentioned.  The 
old  type  of  relying  upon  facts  memorized  from  a  text-book 
deserves  no  serious  consideration. 

(i)  Heuristic  Method.  —  This  is  the  ideal  method  of  the  in- 
vestigator. It  is  particularly  of  value  in  the  study  of  local 
geography.  It  is  a  method  in  which  the  student  gathers  and 
interprets  his  own  facts.  To  make  this  method  available  at  all, 
the  student  must  be  taught  how  to  gather  facts  and  how  to 
interpret  them.  Suggestive  questions  in  the  form  of  problems 
have  to  be  submitted  to  him,  and  the  line  which  he  must 
follow  in  order  to  solve  the  problems  indicated.  These 
problems  at  first  have  to  be  of  a  very  simple  nature  because  the 
solution  of  the  larger  problems  in  commerce  requires  training, 
both  in  the  gathering  and  sifting  of  facts  and  in  their  inter- 
pretation. This  at  once  points  to  the  limitations  of  the 
heuristic  method. 

It  is  too  difficult  for  the  amateur  student,  and  it  might 


258    Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

lead  to  two  extremes,  both  of  which  have  to  be  avoided.  In 
one  case,  the  student  will  be  given  a  problem  to  solve  without 
any  hint  or  suggestion  as  to  the  line  of  attack.  He  will 
naturally  give  up  before  going  very  far,  just  like  the  person 
to  whom  a  difficult  conundrum  is  submitted.  The  teacher  will 
be  compelled  to  give  the  solution  himself,  and  thus  defeat 
the  very  purpose  of  the  heuristic  method.  The  other  ex- 
treme is  to  give  too  many  hints  to  the  student  and  to  solve 
the  problem  for  him  practically  in  advance.  The  good  teacher 
will  choose  the  golden  mean  between  these  two  extremes. 

The  heuristic  method  as  a  method  of  first-hand  observation 
for  the  gathering  of  certain  facts  is  indispensable  in  local 
geography.  The  student  must  see  at  first  hand  the  phenomena 
of  commerce  and  industry,  and  secure  a  foundation  of 
experience  on  the  basis  of  which  he  can  build  up  the  funda- 
mental concepts  of  commerce.  Observation  visits  to  indus- 
trial plants  and  the  first-hand  gathering  of  simple  statistical 
information  are  both  steps  in  the  application  of  the  heuristic 
method. 

(2)  The  Inductive  Method.  —  The  heuristic  method  is,  of 
course,  a  method  of  induction,  too,  because  it  proceeds  from 
the  particular  fact  to  the  general  law.  The  term  "  inductive 
method,"  as  used  here,  implies  a  modification  of  the  heuristic 
method,  so  as  to  eliminate  some  of  its  difficulties.  The  im- 
plication here  is  that  the  teacher  presents  the  facts  to  the 
student,  instead  of  compelUng  him  to  gather  them  for  himself 
(as  in  the  heuristic  method),  and  helps  the  student  to  draw 
generalizations  from  these  facts.  It  is  much  more  rapid  than 
the  strict  heuristic  method,  and  is  available  in  the  study  of 
the  remote  environment  of  the  pupil,  such  as  localities  and 
industries  not  immediately  accessible.  It  presents  more 
definite  tasks  to  the  student,  and  gives   him  all  the  necessary 


Commercial  Geography  259 

training  in  the  establishment  of  causal  relationship.  Never- 
theless, it  cannot  entirely  supplant  the  pure  heuristic  method, 
because  the  information  which  it  presents  to  the  student  is 
derived  more  or  less  at  second  hand. 

The  steps  in  the  process  of  generalization  are  clearly  indi- 
cated by  the  so-called  formal  steps  in  teaching.  The  analysis 
of  a  table  of  statistics  for  the  purpose  of  drawing  conclusions, 
or  generalizations,  is  a  good  illustration  of  the  application  of 
the  inductive  method. 

(3)  The  Type  Method.  —  This  is  a  form  of  the  inductive 
method  which  has  useful  application,  especially  in  those  schools 
in  which  the  time  allowed  for  the  course  is  limited.  In  such 
courses,  the  teacher,  instead  of  attempting  superficially  to 
cover  the  whole  ground,  chooses  a  portion  of  the  field  for 
intensive  study.  Instead  of  attempting  to  study  all  the 
different  industries  of  a  country,  he  chooses  one  or  two  indus- 
tries as  typical  of  all  the  others,  and  as  throwing  sufficient 
light  upon  the  processes  necessarily  involved  in  most  industries. 
Thus,  in  the  study  of  the  agricultural  industry,  the  teacher 
selects  one  particular  crop  and  follows  it  through  all  its  stages 
from  sowing  to  harvesting,  marketing,  and  consuming.  This 
study  becomes  typical  of  all  the  other  agricultural  crops,  and 
gives  the  student  an  organized  view  of  one  of  the  ways  in  which 
man  extracts  wealth  from  the  earth.  The  study  of  the  prod- 
uct through  its  various  transformations  gives  rise  to  a  series 
of  generalizations,  which  are  of  use  to  the  student  in  inter- 
preting other  phenomena  of  commerce. 

(4)  Deductive  Method.  —  In  the  study  of  the  formal  steps 
of  teaching,  we  find  that  all  induction  must  terminate  in 
deduction,  or  application.  Superficial  persons  confound  the 
term  deductive  method  with  a  method  of  memorizing  rules 
and  facts  from  a  text-book.     This  is  not  what  is  meant  by  the 


26o    Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

true  deductive  method.  It  is  a  method  which  begins  with  a 
cause  or  a  situation,  and  proceeds  to  trace  the  effect  or  to 
apply  the  law  to  other  situations.  Where  a  knowledge  of  the 
fundamental  concepts  in  commercial  geography  has  been 
taught,  there  is  a  sufl5cient  basis  of  rational  knowledge  of 
causes  and  laws,  which  may  be  apphed  to  the  deduction  and 
interpretation  of  facts.  The  deductive  method  thus  proceeds 
from  cause  to  effect. 

With  a  knowledge  derived  from  induction  —  that  an  indented 
coast  means  good  harbors — it  proceeds  to  study  a  coast 
such  as  that  of  Africa,  and  to  draw  conclusions  from  the  fact 
that  the  coast  line  is  smooth.  These  conclusions  it  proceeds 
to  verify  by  means  of  facts.  If  those  conclusions  are  not  cor- 
rect, there  must  be  other  conditions  which  operate.  For 
example,  we  know  that  a  certain  region  has  very  little  rainfall, 
and  we  conclude  from  that  fact  that  its  agriculture  is  in  a  very 
poor  state.  Instead,  we  find  that  it  raises  great  fruit  crops. 
In  explanation  of  this  inconsistency,  we  find  that  irrigation 
has  broken  down  the  obstacles  to  agriculture  placed  by  nature. 
The  advantages  of  the  use  of  the  deductive  method  are: 

(i)  In  showing  us  changes  as  they  progress,  —  causes  as 
they  are  at  work  in  producing  effects.  The  inductive  method, 
after  all,  while  working  in  the  reverse  direction,  is  compelled 
to  retrace  its  steps,  and  become  deductive  in  the  end. 

(2)  It  teaches  us  how  to  anticipate  effects  from  certain  con- 
ditions. The  ability  to  foretell  or  prophesy,  so  to  speak,  is  a 
very  important  one  in  business.  How  can  we  anticipate  the 
possible  success  of  a  particular  venture?  By  being  able  to 
trace  the  consequences  which  certain  conditions  will  naturally 
give  rise  to. 

The  use  of  the  deductive  method  implies  a  broad  basis  of 
experience,  and  cannot,  therefore,  be  used  at  the  beginning  of 


Commercial  Geography  261 

the  work ;  but  in  the  more  advanced  topics  it  should  be  used 
continually.  For  example,  instead  of  beginning  with  the 
products  of  the  country  and  explaining  why  the  particular 
products  are  successful  in  that  country,  we  ought  to  proceed 
to  a  large  extent  by  considering  the  natural  conditions  which 
exist  in  the  country,  including  the  human  factors,  and  trace 
how  these  conditions  have  cooperated  in  creating  the  state 
of  affairs  as  it  exists. 

OUTLINE   LESSONS 

I.   Cotton  (Two  Lessons) 

Motivation :  Uses : 

(i)  Importance  to  man. 

(2)  Wealth  which  it  adds  to  the  United  States. 

(3)  Number  of  persons  the  industry  employs. 
Production  of  cotton  :  Agricultural  phases : 

(i)  Growth  of  cotton  :  conditions,  geographical  distribution, 
kinds  of  cotton.  (Review  of  matter  studied  in  biologic  course 
—  Samples  of  raw  cotton  to  be  shown.  Map  showing  geo- 
graphical distribution  of  product.) 

(2)  Statistics  of  cotton  production :  analysis  by  means  of 
graphs ;  growth  of  cotton  production,  historically,  and  causes 
of  this  growth ;  relation  of  slavery  to  cotton  production 
(correlation  with  history). 

(3)  Ginning  of  cotton :  The  cotton  gin  and  its  work  (illus- 
trated by  pictures) ;  importance  of  Whitney's  invention ;  the 
seed  and  its  uses. 

Marketing  of  cotton : 

(i)  Methods  of  packing ;  importance  of  packing ;  (correla- 
tion with  physics). 

(2)  The  cotton  factor  or  commission  merchant. 

(3)  The  cotton  exchange  (untechnical  treatment). 


262     Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

Transportation  to  market: 

(i)  Shipment  to  ports ;  comparative  importance  of  the 
different  cotton  export  ports. 

(2)  Cotton  shipments  abroad  (note  dependence  of  Eng- 
land upon  American  cotton  and  effect  of  Civil  War  upon  Eng- 
lish industry) ;  effect  of  foreign  shipments  on  balance  of  trade 
(brief  and  untechnical  treatment). 

Manufacture  of  cotton : 

(i)  Conditions  favorable  to  cotton  manufacture.  (Note 
general  principles  favorable  to  any  industry,  such  as  (a) 
Abundance  of  raw  material,  (b)  Power,  (c)  Abundance  of  labor 
and  skilled  supervision,  (d)  Good  transportation  facilities, 
(e)  Large  market,  and  show  the  application  of  these  prin- 
ciples to  cotton  manufactures  in  New  England  and  the 
South.) 

(2)  Steps  in  cotton  manufacture.  (Shown  by  pictures  and 
specimens.) 

(3)  Statistics  of  cotton  production,  —  treatment  with  aid 
of  graphs  (analyze  figures,  and  explain  superiority  of  New 
England  over  the  South). 

Future  of  cotton  manufacture  in  America:  The  influence  of 
the  Panama  Canal  in  helping  American  manufactures,  par- 
ticularly in  the  Oriental  trade ;  importance  of  the  Oriental 
trade ;  probable  effect  of  the  European  war  upon  the  future 
of  American  cotton  manufactures  in  enlarging  their  markets. 

Note.  The  dividing  line  between  the  two  lessons  is 
drawn  on  this  basis : 

The  production,  marketing,  and  transportation  of  raw  cotton 
constitute  one  unit;  the  manufacture  of  cotton  and  the  eco- 
nomic factors  connected  with  the  struggle  for  the  world  markets 
constitute  another. 


Commercial  Geography 


263 


OUTLINE    LESSON   ON   ANALYSIS   AND    INTERPRETATION   OF 
STATISTICS   WITH   THE   AID    OF    GRAPHS 

Progress  of  Foreign  Commerce  of  the  United  States 
1900-1913 


1 

MILLIONS 

2400 
2300 
2200 
2100 
2000 
1900 
1800 
1700 
1600 
1500 
1400 
1300 
1200 
1100 
1000 
900 
800 

KEY 

Exp 

orts 

/ 

___ 

Imports 

/ 

Years  are 

Fiscal, 

/ 

ending  J 

'une  30. 

y 

1 

y 

/ 

^mou 

nts  in 

/ 

Millions  c 

>f  Dollars 

^/ 

s. 

/ 

/ 

\, 

^^ 

/ 

/ 

> 

^"^ 

/ 

/ 

>' 

^ 

N 

^' 

, 

.«^_ 

X 

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.--■ 

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0         T-H          M          CO          ■<1<         10 

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Purpose  of  Lesson.  —  i.  To  enable  students  to  grasp  as  a 
whole  the  growth  and  fluctuation  of  the  volume  of  commerce. 
.  2.  To  see  the  relation  between  exports  and  imports,  and  note 
changes  in  balance  of  trade.  3.  To  interpret  the  movement 
and  give  causes  for  the  fluctuations  at  different  times.  4.  To 
apply  ability  to  interpret  statistics  to  similar  statistical  graphs 
in  general,  and  to  the  course  of  foreign  commerce  of  the  coun- 
tries in  particular. 

Introduction.  —  (It  is  presumed  that  students  have  been 
taught  to  convert  a  statistical  table  into  a  graph.)  Students, 
as  a  part  of  home  work,  may  bring  in  graphical  chart  above. 


264     Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

In  later  lessons  this  will  not  be  necessary.  It  also  can  be 
dispensed  with  at  this  stage ;  but  the  teacher  should  have  a 
large  graphic  chart  ready  for  class  discussion. 

Presentation.  —  Export  Curve.  What  year  marks  the  high- 
water  mark  of  export  trade?  The  low-water  mark?  Is  the 
movement  of  the  graph  continually  upward?  In  what  period 
is  there  fluctuation?  (1900-1903,  1908-1910.)  Where  is  it 
horizontal?  (1903-1904,1907-1908.)  What  does  this  denote  ? 
(No  change.)  In  what  period  is  the  upward  movement  pro- 
nounced? (1905-1907,1910-1913.)  In  what  period  is  there  a 
downward  movement?     (1901-1902,  1908-1909.) 

Import  Curve.  —  Similar  questions.  Other  questions  to  de- 
velop the  fact  that  steep  upward  grade  indicates  rapid  prog- 
ress ;  steep  downward  grade,  rapid  dechne ;  slight  grade,  slow 
change. 

Relation  between  export  and  import  curve.  Do  the  two 
curves  intersect  at  any  point?  When  do  they  come  closest 
together?  (1903  and  1910.)  When  are  they  farthest  apart? 
(1908,  1911,  1913.) 

Generalization.  —  Generalized  observations,  i.  Imports  of 
the  United  States  are  smaller  than  the  exports.  Balance  of 
trade  is  always  in  our  favor.  Wliy?  2.  The  volume  of 
exports  and  imports  is  not  a  continually  increasing  quantity. 
There  are  periods  of  fluctuation. 

Interpretation.  —  Why  was  there  such  a  sharp  upward 
movement  in  1905-1907?  Because  it  was  a  "  trade  boom  " 
period.  Why  was  there  a  check  to  it  in  1907- 1908?  Because 
of  the  effects  of  the  panic  of  1907.  Why  was  there  such  a 
drop  in  1908-1909  ?  Because  the  full  effects  of  the  panic  on  the 
business  world  did  not  show  themselves  until  1 908-1909.  What 
is  the  significance  of  the  export  curve  from  1910  to  date?  A 
recovery  from  trade  depression. 


Commercial  Geography  265 

Why  was  there  such  a  drop  in  imports  1907-1908  ?  Because 
we  retrenched  on  luxuries  and  cut  down  on  the  importation 
of  these.  (Note  that  the  export  movement  igoy-igoSis  rela- 
tively stationary  instead  of  downward,  because  we  are  trying 
to  find  a  market  abroad  for  our  unsold  goods,  thus  keeping 
up  the  volume  of  exports.)  Why  is  the  balance  of  exports 
over  imports  so  great  in  1908  ?  Because  we  have  been  trying 
to  find  a  market  for  our  goods,  and  cut  down  on  our  imports 
of  luxuries.  Why  is  the  balance  so  small  in  1910?  Recovery 
from  trade  depression  has  taken  place,  we  have  made  up  for 
our  retrenchment  in  luxuries  in  previous  years,  and  we  do  not 
need  to  look  for  an  expansion  of  our  foreign  trade,  because  of 
the  satisfactory  domestic  market. 

Application.  —  Teacher  will  have  ready  charts  of  other 
countries  like  Great  Britain,  France,  and  Germany.  Pupils 
will  note,  for  brief  comparison,  relation  of  import  and  export 
curve  in  these  countries  and  develop  reasons  for  excess  of 
imports  over  exports  in  Great  Britain.  Comparison  made 
between  the  state  of  trade  in  these  countries  during  our 
periods  of  depression  and  the  state  of  trade  in  the  United 
States. 

SYLLABUS   IN   LOC.\L  INDUSTRIES   OF   NEW   YORK   CITY  ^ 

Part  I 

Local  Occupations  :  (i)  of  the  neighborhood  as  ascer- 
tained by  the  student ;  (2)  of  New  York  City  from  the  Federal 
census;  (3)  Classification  of  these  industries.  (A)  Extrac- 
tive industries  of  New  York  City:  (i)  Function;  (2)  Loca- 
tion ;    (3)  Advantages.    (B)  Manufacturing  and  mechanical 

^  Course  offered  by  the  New  York  High  School  of  Commerce  since  1904, 
which  can  be  adapted  to  the  study  of  any  other  industrial  community. 


266     Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

pursuits  of  the  City  of  New  York  :  (i)  Function;  (2)  Needs  of 
the  manufacturer,  —  (a)  Raw  material,  (b)  Supply  of  labor, 
(c)  Supply  of  capital,  (d)  Supply  of  power,  (e)  Access  to  the 
market ;  (3)  Influence  of  each  in  locating  local  manufactures ; 
(4).  Other  causes  determining  the  location  of  local  manu- 
facturers; (5)  Comparison  of  local  manufactures  with  those 
of  the  country,  state,  and  nation  according  to,  —  (a)  Capital, 

(b)  Laborers,  (c)  Wages,  (d)  Value  of  product.  (C)  Trans- 
portation industries  of  New  York  City:  (i)  Function; 
(2)  Kinds ;  (3)  Character  of  traffic.  (D)  Trading  industries 
of  New  York  City  :  (i)  Function;  (2)  Kinds,  —  (a)  Wholesale 
and  retail,  (b)  Specialty  store  and  department  store,  (3)  Ten- 
dency to  eliminate  wholesaler  and  jobber.  (£)  Service 
industries  of  New  York  City  :  (i)  Professional  service  ;  (2) 
Personal  service ;  (3)  Domestic  service.  (F)  Banking  and 
funding  facilities  of  New  York  City  :  (i)  Function;  (2)  Kinds, 
—  (a)  Banks,    commercial,    savings,    (b)  Trust    companies, 

(c)  Building  loan  associations,  (d)  Insurance  companies, 
life,  fire,  marine,  accident,  etc. ;  (3)  Exchange  facihties. 

Part  II 

New  York  State.  (A)  Advantages  of  its  situation: 
(i)  Importance  of  New  York  Harbor;  (2)  Superiority  of 
New  York  Harbor :  Hudson  River,  Mohawk  Valley  en- 
trance to  the  interior  ;  (3)  Importance  of  Hudson-Champlain 
route  to  the  North ;  (4)  Significance  of  Long  Island  Sound. 
(B)  The  chief  extractive  industries :  (i)  Farming  and  Dairy- 
ing ;  (2)  Fruit  growing ;  (3)  Market  gardening ;  (4)  Oil  and 
naturalgas;  (5)  Lumbering;  (6)  Mining.  (C)  Thechief manu- 
factures of  the  state:  (i)  Clothing,  women's;  (2)  Clothing, 
men's ;  (3)  Textiles ;  (4)  Foundry  and  machine-shop  prod- 
ucts ;  (5)  Furs ;  (6)  Newspapers  and  periodicals ;  (7)  Liquors, 


Commercial  Geography  267 

malt ;  (8)  Tobacco,  cigars,  and  cigarettes ;  (9)  Slaughtering, 
meat  packing ;  (10)  Printing  and  publishing,  book  and 
job;  (11)  Localization  of  certain  manufactures  in  particular 
cities.  (D)  The  transportation  facihties  of  the  state :  (i) 
Water  routes,  —  (a)  Erie  Canal  and  its  connections,  (b)  Barge 
Canal,   (c)  Hudson  River,   (d)  Lake  Champlain  and  Canal; 

(2)  Rail  routes,  —  (a)  New  York  Central  Lines,  {b)  Erie, 
(c)  Lehigh  Valley,  {d)  Lackawanna,  (e)  Delaware  &  Hudson ; 

(3)  Pipe  Hnes.  (E)  Banking  facihties  and  financial  suprem- 
acy. (F)  Commercial  future  of  the  state:  (i)  Development 
of  water  power ;  (2)  Changes  in  kinds  of  agriculture  ;  (3)  De- 
velopment of  the  Adirondacks  as  sources  of  power,  lumber, 
iron,  and  recreation. 

SUMMARY 

Commercial  geography  includes  a  study  of  the  way  in  which 
man,  by  his  industry,  has  subordinated  the  forces  of  nature  to 
his  use. 

The  difficulties  in  teaching  are  due  to  making  information, 
rather  than  organization  and  interpretation,  the  end  of  the 
study ;  and  to  a  lack  of  faciUty  for  obtaining  first-hand  infor- 
mation. The  second  difficulty  may  be  met  by  begiiming  the 
study  with  the  geography  of  the  locaHty. 

The  topics  to  be  included  in  commercial  geography  are : 
(i)  the  materials  of  commerce ;  (2)  physiographic  conditions 
which  influence  commerce ;  (3)  the  human  factors  in  com- 
merce ;  (4)  the  geography  of  the  United  States,  of  the  state 
in  which  the  student  hves.  of  our  American  neighbors,  and  of 
the  great  commercial  countries  of  the  world. 

The  general  principle  of  selection  of  material  is  that  the 
facts  selected  are  to  have  some  relation  to  the  possible  indus- 
trial activity  of  the  student.     Specific  principles  are  stated 


268     Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

in  the  text.  The  facts  selected  must  be  organized,  so  that  the 
student  will  be  able  to  hold  them  in  mind,  to  give  them  sig- 
nificance, and  to  relate  them  with  the  other  facts  in  his  pos- 
session, in  a  complete  system. 

Aids  in  commercial  geography  are  the  text-book,  reference 
books,  observation  trips,  the  commercial  museum,  pictures, 
stereopticons  and  moving  pictures,  maps,  and  graphic  charts. 

Special  methods  of  teaching  commercial  geography  are  the 
heuristic  method,  the  inductive  method,  the  type  method, 
and  the  deductive  method.  The  use  of  the  deductive  method 
implies  a  broad  basis  of  experience.  It  cannot  therefore  be 
used  at  the  beginning  of  the  work ;  but  in  the  more  advanced 
topics  it  should  be  used  continually. 

EXERCISES 

GROUP  ONE 

1.  Show  wherein  commercial  geography  and  industrial  geography 
differ  from  general  and  physical  geography.     Discuss  fully. 

2.  Discuss  the  difficulties  in  teaching  commercial  geography.     How 
may  these  obstacles  be  overcome  ? 

3.  What  is  meant  by  the  interpretation  of  industrial  facts?     How 
may  this  power  be  acquired  in  the  high  school  ? 

4.  State  the  principles  which  should  guide  the  teacher  in  his  selec- 
tion of  the  materials  of  commerce  for  class-room  use.     Illustrate. 

5.  How  should  the  text-book  in  commercial  geography  be  used  ? 

6.  What  aids  should  the  teacher  employ  in  order  to  make  his  teach- 
ing of  geography  vital  ? 

7.  Define  the  heuristic  method,  and  explain  its  application  to  com- 
mercial geography. 

8.  What  is  meant  by  a  "type"  lesson?    Discuss  its  value  in  the 
teaching  of  geography. 

9.  Show  the  value  of  the  deductive  method  in  commercial  geography. 
ID.    Give  three  graphic  devices  employed  in  commercial  geography, 

pointing  out  their  uses  and  limitations. 


Commercial  Geography  269 

GROUP  TWO 

1.  Outline  a  lesson  on  "Localization  of  Industries  in  the  United 
States, "  illustrating  from  prominent  industries.  Give  in  detail  one  section 
of  your  lesson. 

2.  Suggest  a  system  of  classification  of  products  for  a  commercial 
museum. 

3.  Give  the  sequence  of  steps  in  teaching  pupils  how  to  use  reference 
books,  showing  progressively  the  reference  books  you  would  introduce. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 
Text-books 

Adams,  C.  C,  A  Text-book  of  Commercial  Geography.  New  York,  Apple- 
ton  &  Co.,  1908. 

Gannet,  Garrison  and  Houston,  Commercial  Geography.  New  York, 
Amer.  Book  Co.,  1905. 

Robinson,  E.  V.  D.,  Commercial  Geography.  Chicago,  Rand,  McNally 
Co.,  1910. 

Smith,  J.  R.,  Industrial  and  Commercial  Geography.  New  York,  Holt 
&  Co.,  1913. 

Trotter,  S.,  Geography  of  Commerce.    New  York,  Macmillan  Co.,  191 1. 

Books  on  Methods 

King,  C.  F.,  Methods  and  Aids  in  Geography.  Boston,  Lee  and  Shepard, 
1897. 

McMuRRY,  C.  A.,  special  Method  in  Geography.  New  York,  Mac- 
millan Co.,  1903. 

Sutherland,  W.  J.,  Teaching  of  Geography.  Chicago,  Scott,  Foresman 
&  Co.,  1909. 

Teacher's  Manual  of  Method  in  Geography.  New  York,  Macmillan  Co., 
1903. 

Tildsley,  J.  L.,  The  Study  of  Local  Industry  and  Trade.  N.  E.  A. 
Report,  1905,  p.  682. 

Whitbeck,  R.  H.,  Commercial  Geography.  N.  E.  A.  Report,  191 2, 
P-  1057. 


270    Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

Reference  Books  for  Students 

American  Year  Book.    New  York,  Appleton  &  Co.,  annual. 

Bullinger's  Monitor  Guide.     New  York,  current. 

Encyclopcedia  Britannica.     Eleventh  edition. 

Journal  of  Commerce  and  Commercial  Bulletin.     New  York,  current. 

NoYES,  F.  K.,  Teaching  Material  in  Govcrntnent  Publications.  Washing- 
ton, Bur.  of  Ed.,  Bulletin  No.  47,  1913. 

Seligman,  E.  R.  a.,  Principles  of  Economics.  New  York,  Longmans 
Green  &  Co.,  1910.  (Contains  an  admirable  list  of  general  refer- 
ences.) 

Statesman's  Year  Book.     London,  Macmillan  &  Co.,  annual. 

Statistical  Abstract.  Washington,  Bureau  of  Foreign  and  Domestic  Com- 
merce, annual. 

Superintendent  of  Documents,  Washington,  publishes  a  monthly  Price 
List  of  United  States  Public  Documents  for  Sale. 

System  (Magazine).     Chicago,  current. 

U.  S.  Census,  Considar  Reports,  and  Reports  of  the  Bureau  of  Foreign 
and  Domestic  Commerce. 

World  Almanac.    New  York,  Press  Pub.  Co.,  annual. 


CHAPTER   rX 

Technique  of  Commerce 

PURPOSE 

The  purpose  of  the  course  in  the  technique  of  commerce  is : 
(i)  To  relieve  the  course  in  Commercial  Geography  from 
a  part  of  its  content,  so  as  not  only  to  improve  the  teaching  of 
what  remains  by  making  it  more  intensive,  but  also  to  organize 
the  content  so  taken  out,  on  a  more  scientific  basis.  It  has 
been  customary  to  make  commercial  geography  the  dumping- 
ground  for  all  kinds  of  topics,  so  that  it  has  become  the  all- 
inclusive  subject.  Unfortunately,  it  is  impossible  to  cover 
so  much  ground  without  giving  the  most  superficial  attention 
to  the  topics  involved. 

(2)  To  make  an  intensive  study  of  the  functions  of  com- 
merce, by  giving  the  student  a  comprehensive  view  of  the 
human  agencies,  which,  through  the  organization  of  the  func- 
tions of  commerce,  have  made  its  growth  possible. 

(3)  To  give  the  background  of  experience  for  an  intelligent 
study  of  the  principles  of  economics.  The  average  student  of 
eighteen  or  nineteen,  such  as  we  would  find  in  the  last  year  of 
the  secondary  course,  is  capable  of  studying  the  philosophy  of 
business,  such  as  is  found  in  the  principles  of  economics,  if 
he  has  sufficient  illustrative  material  to  make  the  economic 
laws  concrete.  According  to  this  view,  then,  the  course  is 
one  in  applied  economics.  It  will  be  unnecessary  to  defend  a 
procedure  by  which  the  applications  of  the  principles  of  eco- 

271 


272     Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

nomics  are  treated  before  the  abstract  principles  themselves. 
This  method  is  only  another  illustration  of  the  inductive 
method.  The  same  reason  exists  for  such  a  concrete  course  as 
for  a  course  in  inductive  or  applied  geometry,  as  a  preparation 
for  the  study  of  deductive  or  Euclidean  geometry. 

The  objection  that  it  will  be  hard  to  observe  the  boundaries 
of  the  subject  of  the  technique  of  commerce,  and  that  it  will 
constantly  trespass  upon  the  field  of  commercial  geography, 
need  not  give  us  any  serious  concern.  There  is  no  objection  to 
the  study  of  commercial  arithmetic  because  it  reviews  a 
number  of  topics  taken  up  in  the  elementary  school  arithmetic  ; 
nor  is  it  an  objection  to  the  study  of  accounting  to  say  that 
a  number  of  topics  in  bookkeeping  are  repeated,  and  that 
therefore  the  boundaries  between  bookkeeping  and  accounting 
are  not  observed.  The  point  of  view  in  both  subjects  is  a  httle 
different,  and  the  review  of  bookkeeping  in  accounting  is  from 
a  more  scientific  standpoint.  This  analogy  does  not  com- 
pletely explain  the  relation  between  commercial  geography 
and  the  technique  of  commerce,  but  simply  points  out  the 
fact  that  the  point  of  view  of  the  two  is  different.  In  com- 
mercial geography,  the  centre  of  organization  is,  to  a  large 
extent,  the  country  or  the  locality,  while  the  industry  is  sub- 
ordinated with  reference  to  that.  In  the  technique  of  com- 
merce, the  centre  of  organization  is  the  industry,  while  the 
geographic  element  is  made  subordinate  with  reference  to  this. 
Each  subject,  therefore,  reenforces  the  other  by  viewing  the 
facts  studied  in  the  other  subject  from  another  point  of  view. 
This  does  not  imply  that  the  field  of  commercial  geography 
is  identical  with  that  of  the  technique  of  commerce.  In  the 
latter,  the  organized  functions  of  commerce  are  discussed  in  a 
very  comprehensive  way.  In  the  former,  they  are  treated 
incidentally. 


Technique  of  Commerce  273 

DIFFICULTIES   OF   THE   SUBJECT 

The  difi&culties  which  we  found  in  the  study  of  commercial 
geography  exist  perhaps  to  a  larger  extent  in  this  subject. 

(i)  The  difficulty  connected  with  the  selection  and  organi- 
zation of  facts  is  not  so  very  great,  because  the  field  is  more 
limited  than  that  of  commercial  geography.  Furthermore, 
an  industry,  as  a  unit  of  study,  lends  itself  to  better  organiza- 
tion than  a  country  or  a  material  of  commerce.  But  even  in 
this  study,  in  order  to  avoid  overwhelming  the  study  with 
details,  it  is  necessary  to  choose  typical  industries  and  typical 
processes  as  illustrations  of  general  business  laws  and  functions. 

(2)  The  difficulty  due  to  absence  of  facihties  for  first-hand 
observation  can  be  met  by  the  use  of  pictures,  concrete  material, 
and  the  use  of  the  limited  facilities  for  first-hand  observation 
that  may  exist  in  the  community.  Of  course,  facilities  for 
observing  organized  business  do  not  exist  to  the  same  extent 
in  all  parts  of  the  country,  but  since  organization  is  largely 
a  matter  of  schemes  and  documents  that  can  be  exhibited  on 
paper,  the  facilities  for  a  concrete  study  of  organization  should 
be  available  to  all.  The  commercial  museum  should  have,  as 
a  part  of  its  collection,  documents,  business  papers,  reports, 
etc.,  as  an  aid  to  the  study  of  organization. 

(3)  The  greatest  difficulty  is  due  to  the  absence  of  an 
available  text-book.  No  matter  what  the  abuses  of  the  text- 
book are,  it  nevertheless  serves  to  unify  the  work  of  the 
student.  The  difficulty  is  not  insurmountable,  in  view  of  the 
advanced  character  of  the  students  to  whom  this  course  is 
open.  There  are  two  ways  open  for  the  teacher.  One  is  for 
him  to  write  a  text-book  in  outline,  and  to  present  mimeo- 
graphed copies  of  the  outlines  to  the  student  as  the  course 
progresses,  and  the  other,  to  assign  different  topics  for  in- 


274    Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

vestigation  to  different  students,  and  to  discuss  the  reports 
brought  in  by  these  students  in  the  class.  This  method  is  what 
practically  may  be  called  the  heuristic  or  seminar  method,  as 
applied  to  this  subject.  The  disadvantage  of  such  a  method 
in  this  case  lies  in  the  fact  that  there  is  danger  that  each 
student  will  pursue  his  investigation  without  regard  to  what 
the  other  students  are  doing,  and  without  making  himself 
acquainted  with  the  work  of  the  other  students.  This 
difficulty  is  met,  as  we  indicated  in  connection  with  commercial 
geography,  by  holding  every  student  responsible  for  a  general 
knowledge  of  the  results  of  his  neighbor's  work.  It  may  be 
well  to  have  a  mimeographed  outline  prepared  by  the  student 
beforehand  or  as  a  result  of  his  report,  and  to  distribute  it  to  the 
other  students  for  reference  and  for  purposes  of  review.  In 
many  instances  the  same  topic  may  be  presented  to  the  class 
as  a  whole,  particularly  where  opportunities  exist  for  observa- 
tion trips,  and  a  discussion  of  the  result  of  this  trip  should  lead 
to  generalizations  upon  the  facts  which  operate  in  the  world 
of  industry. 

It  must  be  remarked  here  that  discussion  upon  the  reports 
or  the  observations,  and  systematic  questions  along  the  lines 
of  a  report,  is  the  only  method  by  which  the  teacher  can  make 
sure  that  the  pupil  is  actively  observing  the  facts,  and  par- 
ticipating in  their  organization.  The  method  of  suggestive 
questions  in  the  way  of  problems  furnishes  the  right  incentive 
for  the  students'  active  observation.  The  question  suggests 
the  problems  which  the  organizer  meets  with  and  how  he  solves 
them.  The  inductive  method,  from  fact  to  explanation,  or 
from  effect  to  cause,  has,  therefore,  extensive  application. 
Similarly,  the  method  of  proceeding  from  cause  to  effect  plays 
an  important  part.  A  form  of  organization  being  given,  we 
observe  how  this  organization  proves  its  worth  in  the  exercise 


Technique  of  Commerce  275 

of  the  functions  of  commerce  and  in  the  accomplishment  of 
efficient  results. 

The  sources  for  the  study  of  the  technique  of  commerce 
have  been  made  available  in  a  compact  way  by  the  publication 
of  several  excellent  books,  each  of  which  deals  with  a  special 
phase  of  the  subjects.  While  there  are  too  many  of  the  books 
to  use  them  all  as  general  texts  for  the  class,  two  or  three  of  the 
most  important  books  might  be  used  as  such  texts  with  excel- 
lent result.  But  the  substance  of  all  of  them  can  be  made 
available,  to  a  large  degree,  by  the  assignment  of  different 
portions  of  the  books  for  reports  and  for  reference,  according 
to  the  method  indicated  in  the  preceding  paragraph.  The 
planning  of  a  course  in  the  technique  of  commerce  is  not  very 
difficult,  if  we  keep  in  mind  the  analogy  of  the  divisions  of  the 
ordinary  text-books  on  economics  into  production,  exchange, 
distribution,  and  consumption.  A  syllabus  of  the  course  will 
be  suggested  by  the  headings  that  follow  and  by  the  discussion 
of  the  reasons  for  including  certain  topics. 

(i)  Manufacturing.  The  classification  of  industries  be- 
longs largely  to  the  subject  of  commercial  geography.  The 
technical  processes  involved  in  manufacturing  are  considered 
in  other  fields,  such  as  physics  and  chemistry.  The  topics 
connected  with  manufacturing  which  are  to  be  included  in  our 
course  here  are  such  as  are  connected  with  the  organization 
of  the  manufacturing  plant,  shop  management,  employment 
of  labor,  the  technical  forms  necessary  to  keep  track  of  costs, 
the  relation  of  the  different  parts  of  the  plant,  and  general 
problems  of  overseeing  work. 

(2)  Preparation  for  market.  Too  httle  attention  has  been 
paid  in  the  past  to  the  various  methods  in  which  the  finished 
articles  are  prepared  for  shipment.  The  question  of  packing 
is  a  very  important  one.     It  is  said  America  loses  a  good  deal 


276    Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

of  its  South  American  trade  in  competition  with  Germany, 
because  it  overlooks  the  details  which  have  to  be  observed  in 
insuring  the  safe  arrival  of  the  articles  to  their  destination. 
Here  it  must  be  observed  that  it  is  not  the  aim  of  this  part  of 
the  course  to  teach  the  intricacies  of  the  method  of  packing. 
Work  of  this  sort  would  be  of  a  speciahzed  character,  and 
would  require  a  laboratory  or,  at  least,  a  museum.  But  the 
main  purpose  of  this  work  is  to  teach  the  student  that  an 
important  problem  exists  in  business,  —  a  problem  that  must 
be  met,  and  that  cannot  be  ignored  without  inviting  disaster. 

(3)  Transportation.  This  is  probably  the  most  compre- 
hensive topic  in  the  course  on  the  technique  of  commerce. 
It  includes  an  account  of  problems  of  transportation  by  rail  and 
by  water.  While  the  course  in  commercial  geography  con- 
siders routes  by  land  and  water,  it  does  not  take  up  in  any 
detail  the  organization  of  such  transportation  and  its  relation 
to  the  shipper ;  or  the  relation  of  the  government  to  the  rail- 
roads. This  course  treats  of  such  topics  as  the  conditions 
which  determine  the  establishment  of  railway  rates,  the  docu- 
ments connected  with  shipping  and  railway  transportation, 
and  the  conditions  under  which  articles  are  transported,  — 
all  of  which  have  to  be  considered,  together  with  many  inci- 
dental topics. 

(4)  Marketing  a  product.  In  this  subject,  we  have  to 
consider  the  relation  of  the  manufacturer  to  the  jobber,  the 
place  of  the  middleman,  the  wholesaler  and  the  retailer,  and 
the  commission  man.  Certain  recent  phenomena  in  connec- 
tion with  marketing  should  be  considered,  such  as  the  develop- 
ment of  the  mail-order  house,  the  growth  of  corporations,  and 
the  tendency  for  the  elimination  of  the  middleman.  The  trust 
as  a  phenomenon  of  modern  business  organization,  can  be 
treated  best  in  connection  with  the  course   in   economics. 


Technique  of  Commerce  277 

Methods  of  reaching  the  consumer,  such  as  advertising,  should 
also  be  considered  under  the  head  of  marketing.  This  topic 
should  be  made  concrete  by  an  analysis  of  typical  modern 
advertisements,  for  the  purpose  of  arriving  inductively  at  the 
principles  of  advertising. 

The  work  in  advertising  and  salesmanship  is  considered 
so  important  that  several  schools  have  already  introduced 
courses  in  these  subjects  in  the  last  year  of  the  secondary 
school  course.  While  we  do  not  in  any  way  underrate  the 
value  of  a  knowledge  of  advertising  and  salesmanship,  we 
believe  that  in  ordinary  circumstances  a  special  course  in  this 
subject  is  not  productive  of  the  best  results.  The  phases  of 
advertising  that  are  connected  with  English  and  drawing 
are  easily  handled.  The  psychology  and  the  technique  of 
salesmanship  may  be  easily  taught  in  theory,  but  in  practical 
illustrations  the  results  will  be  largely  barren.  Just  as  soon 
as  the  schools  have  established  cooperative  relations  with  busi- 
ness houses,  such  as  are  discussed  in  the  last  chapter  of  this 
work,  the  introduction  of  a  special  course  in  advertising  and 
salesmanship  will  become  a  very  valuable  feature. 

It  is  true  that  the  defenders  of  such  a  course,  under  present 
conditions,  assert  that  it  is  possible  for  the  student  to  practise 
on  the  rest  of  the  class  by  playing  the  part  of  salesman,  and 
trying  to  induce  his  fellow-students  to  buy.  But  it  is  evi- 
dent that  the  conditions  are  far  from  analogous  to  those  in  real 
business,  because  the  mock  customers  have  no  real  money  to 
give  up ;  and  while  they  may  be  convinced  by  the  arguments 
of  their  fellow-pupil,  it  is  a  question  whether  they  would  be 
similarly  convinced  if  their  money  were  at  stake.  We  do 
not  imply  that  there  is  no  value  in  a  theoretical  course  in  ad- 
vertising and  salesmanship  without  practice  work.  As  a  mat- 
ter of  fact,  we  advocate  including  a  brief  treatment  of  these 


278    Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

problems  in  the  course  in  the  technique  of  commerce.  But 
our  aim  of  work  in  this  connection  is  not  to  make  salesmen  out 
of  pupils,  but  to  give  them  a  realization  of  the  problems  that 
exist,  and,  if  possible,  to  determine  their  vocational  bent  in  a 
specialized  direction. 

In  evening  high  school  and  university  extension  work, 
courses  of  salesmanship  are  very  valuable,  because  they  serve 
the  needs  of  students  who  are  already  engaged  in  practice, 
because  they  give  them  new  ideas  which  they  can  test,  and 
because  they  give  them  principles  of  action  which  they  can 
apply  in  real  business.  We  consider  that  a  special  course  in 
advertising  and  salesmanship  is  of  that  highly  specialized 
character  that  we  think  out  of  place  in  a  high  school  which 
offers  no  practice  work.  But  we  repeat,  that  with  the  oppor- 
tunities for  practice  work  which  the  cooperation  with  the  busi- 
ness community  would  furnish  to  students  of  the  last  year, 
such  a  special  course  would  be  very"  effective. 

(5)  Exchange.  This  includes  the  very  difficult  subject 
of  money  and  credit.  It  includes  a  study  of  the  functions 
of  money,  the  question  of  high  price,  the  functions  of  banks 
and  other  agencies  of  credit,  the  work  of  the  credit  man,  the 
mechanism  of  the  stock  exchange  and  the  clearing  house,  and 
foreign  exchange.  The  subject  is  of  such  difficulty  that  it 
should  be  postponed  until  some  progress  has  been  made  in 
the  study  of  the  principles  of  economics,  of  which  it  is  properly 
a  division. 

ECONOMIC  ACTIVITIES   OF  THE   GOVERNMENT 

As  a  supplement  to  the  course  in  the  technique  of  com- 
merce, there  ought  to  be  a  study  of  the  economic  functions 
of  the  nation,  state,  and  municipal  government.  Possibly 
this  course  ought  to  be  made  a  part  of  the  course  in  civics. 


Technique  of  Commerce  279 

It  would  be  preferable,  however,  to  put  this  work  in  charge 
of  the  department  of  economics,  because  it  deals  almost  ex- 
clusively with  economic  functions,  with  which  the  teacher 
of  history  may  not  be  so  familiar.  Where  the  departments 
of  history  and  economics  are  the  same,  the  task  will,  of 
course,  devolve  upon  the  teacher  of  history. 

As  a  matter  of  civic  duty,  it  is  incumbent  upon  every 
citizen  to  know  how  the  money  raised  by  the  community  is 
spent.  It  is  a  part  of  civic  culture  for  a  student  to  learn 
something  about  the  economic  phases  of  the  water  supply, 
of  street  paving,  lighting,  transportation,  and  something  about 
municipal  accounting.  The  topic  of  the  duties  of  citizens 
is,  of  course,  treated  in  the  elementary  school,  but  the  broader 
view  of  the  activities  of  the  community,  particularly  as  they 
affect  the  citizen  from  an  economic  point  of  view,  is  a  sub- 
ject that  must  be  reserved  for  the  more  mature  mind.  In 
the  New  York  High  School  of  Commerce  a  very  comprehen- 
sive course  in  municipal  activities  is  offered  to  first-year  stu- 
dents. While  they  profit  considerably  by  it,  the  advantage 
of  the  course  would  be  much  more  striking  if  it  were  post- 
poned to  a  later  period.  The  syllabus  of  the  course  in  that 
school  will  be  found  appended  to  this  chapter.  The  matter 
of  municipal  finance  as  well  as  public  finance  will  have  to  be 
treated  after  the  student  has  some  familiarity  with  the  prin- 
ciples of  economics.  The  same  rule,  by  the  way,  appUes 
to  the  discussion  of  corporation  finance.  Logically,  the  sub- 
ject of  raising  money  should  precede  the  discussion  of  the 
way  in  which  it  is  spent.  But  the  consideration  of  the  way 
in  which  public  moneys  are  spent  lends  itself  to  much  easier 
treatment  than  the  other  topic. 

The  relation  of  the  state  to  business  does  not  lend  itself 
very   conveniently   to  independent   treatment,   because   the 


28o    Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

state  contributes  indirectly  to  the  promotion  of  industry 
and  commerce  by  means  of  its  laws  and  regulations.  Conse- 
quently, such  phases  of  pubUc  regulation  as  the  administra- 
tion of  our  canals  and  the  regulation  of  our  public  utilities 
might  be  treated  with  better  advantage  in  connection  with 
the  subject  of  transportation.  The  dependence  of  commerce 
upon  the  existence  of  a  wise  system  of  regulation  should 
be  emphasized  as  frequently  as  possible,  especially  to  impress 
the  learner  with  a  higher  conception  of  the  meaning  of  gov- 
ernment and  his  relation  to  it.  The  functions  of  the  United 
States  government  in  connection  with  commerce  are  so  much 
connected  with  geographic  questions  that  perhaps  the  sub- 
ject might  be  left  to  commercial  geography.  In  connection 
with  transportation,  we  have  to  study  in  detail  the  relation 
of  the  government  to  the  regulation  of  the  railroads.  Ques- 
tions of  pubHc  finance,  such  as  ways  and  means  of  raising 
funds,  the  regulation  of  the  currency  and  government  finance, 
may  be  profitably  studied  in  connection  with  economics. 

Aids  and  Methods.  —  As  the  aids  and  methods  in  the  tech- 
nique of  commerce  are  practically  the  same  as  those  in  com- 
mercial geography,  it  will  be  unnecessary  to  repeat  them 
here.     The  reader  will  find  them  discussed  in  Chapter  VIII. 

SYLLABUS   IN  MUNICIPAL  ACTIVITIES  ^ 

Part  I 

Origin  of  government  in  cooperation  for  public  purposes ; 
growth  of  government  to  meet  increased  needs  arising  from 
the  growth  of  population:  {A)  the  town,  the  smallest  unit 
of  self-government ;  {B)  the  county,  a  group  of  towns ;  (C)  the 

*  Based  upon  the  course  of  study  offered  by  the  New  York  High  School  of 
Commerce  since  1906,  and  easily  adaptable  to  the  needs  of  any  community. 


Technique  of  Commerce  281 

village,  due  to  the  growth  of  a  part  of  a  town ;   (D)  the  city, 
a  village  grown  large. 

Part  II 

New  York  City:  {A)  Causes  for  consolidation;  {B) 
Greater  New  York  Charter ;  (C)  Outline  of  New  York  City 
Government.  (I)  How  New  York  City  gets  its  money : 
(a)  From  taxation  ;  {h)  From  other  sources  (the  general  fund) ; 
(c)  From  loans.  (II)  The  Board  of  Estimate  and  Apportion- 
ment :  {a)  Estimates  income  from  (la)  and  (Jb) ;  {b)  Appor- 
tions the  income  among  the  departments ;  (c)  Approves  bonds ; 
{d)  Makes  provision  for  the  payment  of  corporate  stock 
through  the  sinking  fund,  which  is  in  charge  of  the  Sinking 
Fund  Commissioners ;  the  interest  is  an  increasing  annual 
charge  to  be  met  out  of  the  current  income.  (Ill)  How  New 
York  City  gets  its  employees,  —  the  Civil  Service  Commis- 
sion under  the  administrative  control  of  the  State  Civil  Ser- 
vice Commission. 

Part  III 

The  street,  the  central  element  of  city  life.  Its  capacity 
for  transportation  controls  the  growth  of  the  city.  How  the 
city  acquires  land  for  street  and  other  public  purposes.  The 
street  plan:  {A)  City  plans;  {B)  Defects  of  the  1807 
plan;  (C)  Improvements  proposed  in  Manhattan  possible 
through  excess  condemnation;  {D)  How  these  defects  are 
avoided  in  new  sections.  Street  pavements:  {A)  Construc- 
tion; {B)  Maintenance  and  repair.  Transportation  on  the 
streets:  {A)  Vehicular  and  foot  traffic;  {B)  Surface  and 
elevated.  Franchises:  {A)  What  they  are;  {B)  How 
they  are  granted ;  (C)  What  restrictions  should  be  imposed 
upon  grantees.  Transportation  under  the  streets:  {A)  At 
present  municipal  ownership  and  private  operation  of  the 


282     Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

subways  with  state  regulation  through  a  local  board  —  the 
Public  Service  Commission  of  the  First  District ;  {B)  Should 
we  have  municipal  operations?  (C)  Proposed  extensions  of 
the  present  system.  Street  cleaning  and  refuse  collection. 
Refuse.  Disposal.  Sewerage  system  and  sewage  disposal : 
{A)  Sewerage  for  the  protection  of  the  public  health; 
{B)  For  protection  of  the  harbor.  Street  lighting;  light 
and  power  distribution  through  the  streets.  Water  supply: 
{A)  The  Croton  reservoirs  and  aqueducts;  {B)  New  Cats- 
kill  reservoirs  and  aqueducts ;  (C)  Supply  for  Brooklyn  and 
Queens;  {D)  Supply  for  Richmond.  Water  distribution: 
{A)  Water  waste  and  metering  as  a  remedy;  {B)  High  press- 
ure system ;  (C)  Water  rents.  Street  trades  and  miscel- 
laneous uses  of  the  street :  {A)  Licensing  problems;  {B)  In- 
cumbrances; (C)  Permits  for  signs,  stands,  bay  windows, 
awnings,  etc.  Docks,  improved  street  terminals.  Bridges, 
extended  streets.  Ferries,  bridge  substitutes.  Fire:  {A) 
Protection  from  fire ;  {B)  Prevention  of  fire.  Health : 
{A)  Positive  work  of  the  Health  Department;  {B)  Prevent- 
ive work  of  the  Health  Department.  Tenement-house 
Department:  {A)  Regulation  of  buildings  other  than  tene- 
ments; {B)  Care  and  maintenance  of  public  buildings. 
Education.  Parks  and  museums.  The  Department  of 
Charities,  and  Bellevue  and  Allied  Hospitals.  PoHce :  {A) 
protection  of  the  public ;  {B)  Prevention  of  crimes ;  (C)  De- 
tection of  crimes.  The  local  courts  and  the  Department  of 
Correction.  Taxation  and  the  Department  of  Taxes  and 
Assessments. 

Part  IV 

Review  of  the  city  activities  through  a  more  careful  study 
of  the  budget  and  per  capita  costs. 


Technique  of  Commerce  283 

PartV 

The  part  of  the  citizen  in  local  government:  {A)  National 
and  municipal  parties ;  {B)  Party  organization  and  manage- 
ment. 

SUMMARY 

The  purpose  of  this  course  is  to  organize  a  part  of  the  con- 
tent of  commercial  geography  on  a  more  scientific  basis,  to 
make  an  intensive  study  of  the  functions  of  commerce,  and 
to  give  the  background  of  experience  for  an  intelligent  study 
of  the  principles  of  economics. 

In  order  to  avoid  the  difficulty  due  to  a  mass  of  details, 
typical  industries  and  processes  should  be  selected.  Other 
difl&culties  to  be  met  are  the  hmited  facilities  for  first-hand 
observation,  and  the  absence  of  available  text-books.  The 
lack  of  text-books  compels  the  use  of  a  topical  method  of  in- 
dividual research  and  reports. 

The  syllabus  in  the  technique  of  commerce  follows  the 
analogy  of  the  divisions  of  economics,  (i)  Manufacturing 
includes  the  organization  of  industry;  (2)  preparation  for 
market  includes  the  subject  of  packing ;  (3)  transportation 
includes  the  technique  of  physical  distribution  by  land  and 
sea;  (4)  marketing  a  product  includes  the  study  of  modern 
buying  and  selling  organization,  including  the  subjects  of 
merchandising,  advertising,  and  salesmanship ;  (5)  exchange 
includes  the  subjects  of  money  and  credit,  banking,  and 
stock,  cotton,  and  produce  exchanges. 

The  course  in  the  technique  of  commerce  should  be  sup- 
plemented by  a  study  of  the  economic  functions  of  the  gov- 
ernment and  by  a  study  of  public  and  corporation  finance. 

The  methods  to  be  used  in  teaching  this  subject  are  similar 
to  those  discussed  under  commercial  geography. 


284    Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

EXERCISES 
GROUP  ONE 

1.  Bound  the  field  of  the  technique  of  commerce  so  as  to  distingiiish 
it  from  commercial  geography. 

2.  For  teaching  purposes,  how  would  you  divide  the  subject-matter 
included  in  this  chapter  ? 

3.  Justify  the  inclusion  of  courses  in  advertising  and  salesmanship  as 
part  of  the  high  school  course. 

4.  Why  is  it  important  to  teach  the  economic  activities  of  the  govern- 
ment ? 

5.  What  use  should  be  made  of  the  principal  government  publica- 
tions ? 

6.  How  would  you  introduce  the  subject  of  technique  of  commerce  to 
a  high  school  class  ? 

GROUP  TWO 

1.  Modify  the  syllabus  in  municipal  activities  so  as  to  adapt  it  to  the 
needs  of  your  own  community.    Justify  each  change. 

2.  Outline  a  lesson  on  the  organization  of  the  United  States  Steel 
Corporation,  which  could  be  used  in  an  advanced  class. 

3.  Prepare  a  set  of  instructions  to  be  furnished  the  teachers  of  tech- 
nique of  commerce  for  the  purpose  of  preserving  unity  of  work  in  class- 
room instruction  and  of  minimizing  the  tendency  to  be  diffuse. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY' 

General  Works 

Clow,  F.  R.,  Introduction  to  the  Study  of  Commerce.     New  York,  Silver, 

Burdett  &  Co.,  1901. 
Eaton,  S.,  How  to  do  Business.     Chicago,  Monarch  Book  Co.,  1896. 
Hatfield,  H.   R.   (Ed.),  Lectures  on  Commerce.     Chicago,  Univ.  of 

Chicago  Press,  1907. 
Heelis,  F.  (Ed.),  Theory  and  Practice  of  Commerce.    London,  Pitman  & 

Sons. 
Meade,  E.  S.,  Business  Geography,  pp.  1 50-27 1 .    Phila.,  Ziegler  Co.,  1902. 

'  See  also  pages  269  and  270. 


Technique  of  Commerce  285 

OxLEY,  J.  M.,  The  Romance  of  Commerce.  New  York,  Crowell  &  Co., 
1896. 

Special 

Calkins  and  Holden,  Modern  Advertising.  New  York,  Appleton  &  Co., 
1905. 

DuRAND,  E.  D.,  Finances  of  New  York  City.  New  York,  Macmillan  & 
Co.,  1898. 

FiSKE,  A.  K.,  The  Modern  Bank.     New  York,  Appleton  &  Co.,  1904. 

Johnson,  E.  R.,  Ocean  and  Inland  Water  Transportation.  New  York, 
Appleton  &  Co.,  191 1. 

Johnson,  J.  F.,  Money  and  Currency.    New  York,  Ginn  &  Co.,  1905. 

KiRKBRCDE  AND  Sterrett,  Modem  Trust  Company.  New  York,  Mac- 
millan Co.,  1913. 

McVey,  F.  L.,  Modern  Industrialism.  New  York,  Appleton  &  Co., 
1904. 

Meade,  E.  S.,  Corporation  Finance.     New  York,  Appleton  &  Co.,  191 2. 

Poor,  H.  V.,  Manual  of  Railroads.  (Statistical  Annual.)  New  York, 
H.  V.  and  H.  M.  Poor,  current,  191 1. 

Pratt,  S.  S.,  Work  of  Wall  Street.     New  York,  Appleton  &  Co.,  1903. 

Prendergast,  W.  a.,  Credit  and  Its  Uses.  New  York,  Appleton  &  Co., 
1906. 

Scott,  W.  D.,  Psychology  of  Advertising.  Boston,  Small,  Maynard  & 
Co.,  1910. 

Sheldon,  A.  F.,  Art  of  Selling.  Libertyville,  111.,  Sheldon  Univ.  Press, 
1911. 

Sparling,  S.  E.,  Introduction  to  Business  Organization.  New  York,  Mac- 
millan Co.,  1906. 

Taylor,  F.  W.,  Principles  of  Scientific  Management.  New  York,  Harper 
&  Bros.,  1913. 

White,  H.,  Money  and  Banking.    Boston,  Ginn  &  Co.,  1911. 


CHAPTER  X 

History  of  Commerce 

PURPOSE    of   the   course 

This  course  properly  belongs  to  the  department  of  history. 
It  is  not  wise  to  expect  the  commercial  teacher  to  give  in- 
struction in  this  subject.  The  reasons  are :  first,  his  lack  of 
equipment  in  the  way  of  a  broad  knowledge  of  the  subject; 
and  secondly,  his  lack  of  training  in  methods  of  teaching  his- 
tory. Nevertheless,  in  connection  with  several  of  the  com- 
mercial subjects,  such  as  accounting,  commercial  geography, 
and  law,  the  historical  element  should  occasionally  be  brought 
forward  by  the  commercial  teacher  in  order  to  throw  light 
upon  the  way  in  which  a  particular  subject  has  grown  to  be 
what  it  is.  One  of  the  greatest  achievements  of  the  nine- 
teenth century  has  been  the  apphcation  of  the  historical 
method  to  the  study  of  the  social  and  economic  sciences  and 
to  the  study  of  biology.  In  the  latter,  we  call  the  historical 
method  the  method  of  evolution. 

This  statement  gives  us  a  clue  to  the  purpose  of  the  history 
of  commerce;  that  is,  the  study  of  the  development  of  the 
important  phases  of  modern  industrial  life  from  the  stand- 
point of  how  they  came  to  assume  the  form  that  they  have 
to-day.  The  apphcation  of  the  historical  method  to  eco- 
nomics has  revolutionized  that  study;  the  application  of 
the  historical  method  to  the  study  of  law  tends  to  make 
judges  who  are  much  more  responsive  to  the  interpretation 
of  legal  principles  in  line  with  modern  industrial  conditions. 

286 


History  of  Commerce  287 

Since  the  history  of  modern  industries  is  the  result  of  com- 
plex circumstances,  it  is  idle  to  expect  to  study  it  indepen- 
dently of  the  history  of  institutions  and  culture.  It  is  for  this 
reason  that  the  regular  department  of  history  should  take  up 
the  study  of  economic  history  in  connection  with  the  larger 
background  of  general  history.  If  this  is  done,  the  phenomena 
of  commerce  will  appear  related  to  the  other  historical  phe- 
nomena, and  not  in  an  unintelligent  isolation. 

The  purpose  of  this  chapter  is  principally  to  aid  the  history 
teacher  in  the  appreciation  of  those  topics  which  are  needed 
to  give  an  appreciation  to  the  student  of  the  growth  of  modern 
industrialism.  So  important  is  the  economic  element  in  our 
history,  that  certain  theorists  have  maintained  that  all  his- 
tory must  be  explained  on  the  basis  of  economic  growth. 
These  theorists,  while  one-sided,  represent  a  healthy  protest 
against  the  old  view,  which  regarded  history  as  a  mere  study 
of  kings  and  their  fortunes,  wars  and  the  succession  of  dynas- 
ties ;  and  even  against  the  less  narrow  view  of  history  as  past 
politics.  Where  a  special  course  in  industrial  history  is 
offered,  constant  reference  should  be  made  by  the  teacher  to 
the  general  period  in  which  the  particular  industrial  event 
occurred.  Knowledge  of  general  history  should,  therefore, 
be  presupposed  and  the  connection  of  the  economic  events 
with  political  and  social  history  should  be  emphasized  by  means 
of  parallel  charts  of  events. 

The  selection  and  organization  of  facts  in  economic  history 
furnishes  problems  similar  to  those  to  be  found  in  commer- 
cial geography,  and  what  was  said  about  methods  of  selection 
and  organization  there  applies  to  a  large  extent  here.  If  we 
bear  in  mind  the  true  purpose  of  history,  —  the  understand- 
ing of  our  present  institutions,  in  the  light  of  our  growth,  — 
we  shall  have  a  sure  guide  which  will  help  us  in  emphasizing 


288    Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

certain  facts  and  eliminating  others  and  a  guide  for  the 
organization  of  facts  in  causal  series.  These  considerations 
will  show  us : 

1.  That  facts  which  are  merely  of  antiquarian  importance, 
or  which  only  satisfy  curiosity,  might,  in  large  part,  be 
omitted ; 

2.  That  those  facts  should  loom  in  importance  which  ex- 
plain institutions  as  they  exist  to-day ;   and 

3.  That  certain  facts  which  may  not  be  directly  connected 
with  present  conditions  might,  nevertheless,  be  studied,  be- 
cause they  serve  as  lessons  to  guide  us  in  our  present  Hfe. 
An  example  of  a  fact  of  this  sort  is  the  failure  of  John  Law's 
scheme  in  the  early  eighteenth  century.  The  danger  and  the 
disastrous  consequences  of  over-speculation  are  strikingly 
illustrated  there.  But  history  repeats  itself,  and  several 
times  the  same  results  have  shown  themselves,  because  people 
are  either  ignorant  of  the  lessons  of  the  past  or  are  hopeful 
that  history  will  contradict  itself  for  their  benefit.  The  pre- 
ceding discussion  will  show  us  what  commercial  topics  may, 
with  great  advantage,  be  emphasized  by  the  history  teacher. 

SELECTION   OF  TOPICS 

In  ancient  history,  there  is  practically  nothing  of  conse- 
quence, excepting  perhaps  the  exploits  of  the  Phoenicians, 
which  have  a  mere  historic  interest.  But  the  mediaeval  his- 
tory of  commerce  is  of  extreme  importance,  because  the 
foundations  for  modern  commerce  were  laid  in  the  Middle 
Ages.  In  this  period,  political,  social,  and  economic  history 
must  be  closely  correlated ;  otherwise,  the  period  is  entirely 
unintelHgible.  Here  comes  the  folly  of  trying  to  teach  the 
history  of  commerce  to  a  class  which  is  ignorant  of  general 
history,  and  apart  from  general  history.    An  effective  aid  to 


History  of  Commerce  289 

organization  is  to  take  the  mediaeval  history  of  a  particular 
country,  like  England,  as  a  type,  and  to  consider  the  other 
countries  in  relation  to  England,  and  in  those  important  as- 
pects which  the  history  of  England  does  not  illustrate. 

The  development  of  the  town  is  the  core  of  the  industrial 
history  of  the  mediaeval  ages.  But  since  the  town  was  a 
political  creation  and  its  development  was  dependent  upon 
political  and  religious  aspects,  it  is  necessary  to  refer  to  those 
topics  in  order  to  throw  light  upon  the  growth  of  the  town. 
Hence,  the  development  of  the  feudal  system  and  the  effect 
of  the  Crusades  are  widely  connected  with  the  growth  of  the 
town.  The  discussion  of  mediaeval  markets  and  fairs  is  also 
to  be  taken  in  conjunction  with  social  and  political  condi- 
tions, and  similarly,  the  study  of  the  merchant  and  industrial 
guilds.  The  teacher  of  political  history  who  discusses  the 
Magna  Charta  is  apt  to  look  upon  the  document  as  merely 
political  in  character.  If  he  reads  it  closely,  he  will  see  the 
influence  and  the  recognition  of  the  merchant  and  artisan 
class  in  that  document,  and  the  influence  of  industrial  condi- 
tions upon  the  development  of  constitutional  history.  This 
power,  by  the  way,  is  strikingly  illustrated  by  the  conditions 
which  led  to  the  adoption  of  our  own  Constitution. 

There  are  several  topics  which  the  study  of  industrial  his- 
tory of  England  does  not  throw  sufficient  light  on.  Some  of 
these  are :  the  development  of  trade  routes,  and  systematic 
trade  relations  through  the  Italian  city  repubhcs  and  through 
the  Hanseatic  League.  In  the  discussion  of  these  two  topics 
we  have  aspects  applicable  to  modern  industrial  conditions, 
which  may  be  gathered;  as,  for  example,  development  of  a 
consular  system,  the  origin  of  the  bill  of  exchange,  and  the 
development  of  a  code  of  international  law. 

The  study  of  mediaeval  commerce  must  stimulate  the  im- 


290    Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

agination  of  the  pupil  so  as  not  to  lead  him  to  make  the  mis- 
take of  interpreting  conditions  of  those  days  by  analogy  with 
present  conditions.  On  the  other  hand,  we  must  miss  no 
opportunity,  where  there  are  analogies,  to  point  them  out. 
The  student  should  not  forget  that  a  system  of  international 
trade  and  industrialism,  as  we  know  it  to-day,  was  unknown 
in  the  Middle  Ages,  and  yet  we  should  not  lose  sight  of  the 
roots  of  present  conditions,  which  originated  in  those  days. 

In  what  is  commonly  known  as  the  beginning  of  modern 
history,  one  period  receives  something  like  adequate  treat- 
ment in  the  ordinary  history,  and  that  is,  the  period  of  dis- 
covery, exploration,  and  settlement.  But  the  mistake  fre- 
quently made  by  the  student  of  general  history  is  to  look 
upon  the  enterprises  as  individual  exploits  and  as  mere 
stories  of  adventure.  The  student  in  the  secondary  school 
should  have  outgrown  the  narrative  or  biographical  stage  of 
history  and  have  come  to  regard  the  study  in  the  light  of 
economic  and  other  motives  of  men,  and  the  consequences  to 
which  these  led. 

Other  topics  which  should  receive  due  attention  in  the 
early  period  of  modern  times  are  the  economic  influence  of 
the  Reformation,  the  development  and  strengthening  of  the 
spirit  of  nationality,  and  the  influence  of  a  strong  central 
government  upon  commerce.  The  development  of  English 
industries  and  commerce  is  a  striking  phenomenon  which 
should  receive  separate  attention,  particularly  because  the 
history  of  England  before  1776  is  the  history  of  our  own 
country,  and  because  this  history  strikingly  illustrates  the 
principles  of  industrial  growth  and  the  obstacles  to  it  as  re- 
vealed by  the  mistakes  which  the  continental  countries  made 
and  by  which  England  profited. 

The  mercantile  system,  the  development  of  banking,  the 


History  of  Commerce  291 

corporations  and  trading  companies,  and  the  work  that  was 
accomplished  both  in  America  and  Asia  close  the  history 
of  the  early  modern  period  and  bring  us  to  the  threshold  of 
modern  industriaHsm  as  we  find  it  to-day. 

The  epoch-making  event  or  series  of  events  which  ushered 
in  this  period  is  called  the  industrial  revolution.  It  is  a 
striking  commentary  upon  the  way  history  is  generally 
written,  that  an  event  fully  as  important  as  the  French  Revo- 
lution, with  which  it  was  contemporary,  receives  practically 
no  attention  in  the  general  history  text-book.  This  is  because 
of  the  fact  that  it  lacks  the  spectacular  elements  of  the  other 
events,  and  that  its  changes  are  not  immediately  apparent, 
although,  ultimately,  much  more  permanent  than  the  effects 
of  the  French  Revolution.  It  is  an  event  which  marks  the 
changes  from  the  domestic  system  of  manufacture  to  the 
modern  industrial  system,  and  it  should  be  traced  in  all  its 
consequences  both  in  England  and  in  the  United  States. 

With  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century,  England  ceases  to 
be  the  centre  of  organization  for  modern  history,  as  far  as 
American  students  are  concerned,  and  the  industrial  history 
of  the  United  States  takes  its  place.  But  in  connection  with 
the  effects  of  the  industrial  revolutions,  England  is  still  the 
ideal  type  of  organization,  because  the  effects  of  the  industrial 
revolution  and  the  attempt  to  meet  those  effects,  by  factory 
and  labor  legislation,  followed  through  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury and  down  to  the  present  day. 

The  chief  topics  in  connection  with  the  industrial  history 
of  the  United  States  would  be  exemplified  by  the  way  in 
which  the  new  country  was  conquered  by  the  pioneers,  by 
the  influence  of  immigration,  and  by  the  utilization  of  our 
natural  resources.  The  industrial  history  of  the  United 
States,  through  the  national  period  and  up  to  the  present  day, 


292     Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

may  be  ideally  correlated  with  commercial  geography,  be- 
cause of  the  fact  that  this  country  gives  us  illustrations  of 
primitive  conditions  which  are  more  or  less  recent,  and  which 
the  European  countries  do  not  give  us  so  readily.  The  de- 
velopment of  this  country  beautifully  illustrates  the  condi- 
tions under  which  man,  in  his  struggle  with  nature,  masters 
it  for  his  own  purposes  and  for  the  betterment  of  man- 
kind. 

Recapitulation  of  point  of  view  governing  in  the  history 
of  commerce :  (i)  Those  topics  are  selected  which  show  the 
gradual  conquest  of  the  earth  by  man.  (2)  One  country  is 
made  the  centre  of  organization.  (3)  The  development  of 
commercial  phenomena  is  treated  to  some  extent  independently 
of  national  Umits,  especially  in  the  topical  reviews.  Thus,  the 
growth  of  the  mercantile  system  cannot  be  viewed  and  prop- 
erly understood  in  connection  with  one  country  alone.  In 
this  topic,  the  mercantile  system,  not  the  country,  is  the  type 
of  organization.  (4)  Correlation  with  economic  geography 
should  constantly  be  kept  in  view. 

METHODS   OF   STUDY 

(i)  The  Text-book  Method.  A  good  text-book  should  be  the 
basis  of  the  work.  The  teacher  should  have  such  works  as 
Gibbins's  or  Cheney's  "  Industrial  History  of  England  "  and 
Coman's  "  History  of  the  United  States  "  as  supplementary 
text-books  to  the  general  works  in  the  course.  Since  topics, 
as  in  commercial  geography,  need  not  be  assigned  by  pages, 
the  use  of  several  books  is  no  disadvantage,  especially  as  the 
student  has  been  taught  how  to  use  his  text-book  as  a  refer- 
ence book.  The  text-book  recitation  method  alone  is  apt  to 
make  the  study  dry  and  uninteresting,  and  may  give  the 
student  an  inadequate  idea  of  the  meaning  and  source  of  his- 


History  of  Commerce  293 

torical  facts.  It  must  therefore  be  supplemented  by  other 
works.  The  use  of  a  large  number  of  books  gives  rise  to  what 
may  be  called  the  topical  method. 

(2)  Topical  Method.  In  this  method  students  are  as- 
signed different  portions  of  a  topic  to  work  up,  and  do  not 
use  the  same  text-book  from  which  to  work  up  the  topic. 
The  advantage  is  that  all  the  contributions  of  the  student 
bear  upon  the  main  topic  and  omit  unessential  details,  and 
students  get  a  fulness  of  information  impossible  to  obtain 
from  a  single  text-book.  The  disadvantage  is  that  the  lack 
of  a  text-book  is  apt,  in  a  secondary  school,  to  deprive  the 
work  of  its  unity,  and  to  divide  responsibility  in  failing  to 
estabHsh  as  its  minimum  requirement  the  knowledge  of  a 
text  on  the  part  of  every  member  of  the  class. 

(3)  Source  Method.  The  advocates  of  this  method  believe 
that  history  ought  to  be  studied  from  first-hand  sources : 
accounts  of  eye-witnesses,  journals,  letters,  inscriptions,  etc. 
They  believe  that  only  in  this  way  will  students  get  the 
right  idea  of  how  history  is  made,  and  the  opportunity  to 
draw  their  inferences  as  to  the  significance  of  events  instead 
of  having  to  accept  the  conclusions  of  others.  The  objection 
to  the  use  of  this  method  in  the  secondary  schools  is  that  the 
proper  historical  perspective  cannot  be  obtained  from  the 
accounts  of  contemporaries.  Furthermore,  it  takes  a  highly 
trained  mind  to  draw  inferences  from  historical  facts.  The 
teacher  is  doing  enough  if  he  leads  the  pupil  to  grasp  the 
inferences  of  great  historians  and  shows  him  how  to  verify 
these  conclusions  by  reexamining  the  facts  for  himself.  The 
use  of  sources  is  therefore  supplementary  to  the  main  work 
and  not  primary.  "  The  aim  of  historical  study  is  not  so 
much  training  in  the  art  of  historical  investigation  (a  training 
which  the  source  method  gives)  as  in  thinking  historically. 


294    Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

The  importance  of  sources  lies  in  the  fact  that  they  teach 
the  pupil  that  he  is  deahng  with  Uving  characters." 

Sources  are  valuable  as  an  adjunct  to  the  regular  work, 
because  they  make  the  study  more  concrete  by  making  the 
characters  of  the  past,  for  example,  speak  and  act  Hke  Hving 
persons,  and  because  they,  therefore,  give  a  vivid  picture  of 
the  life  and  state  of  society  in  the  past.  But  the  source  or 
"  seminar  "  method,  as  such,  is  inapplicable  to  the  secondary 
school  as  far  as  history  is  concerned,  although  its  analogue, 
the  laboratory  method,  is  of  high  utihty  in  commercial  geog- 
raphy, 

(4)  Combined  Method.  The  teacher  uses  all  the  good 
features  of  the  preceding  methods,  (a)  He  uses  a  single  text- 
book, because  it  gives  unity  to  the  work  and  centres  respon- 
sibiHty.  {b)  He  groups  the  events  in  topics,  and  assigns  work 
in  other  books  supplementary  to  the  ground  covered  in  the 
text-book.  This  work  consists  either  in  summaries  of  chap- 
ters from  other  books,  or  in  larger  reports  combining  the  sub- 
stance of  several  books  on  the  topic,  (c)  He  uses  the  source 
method  in  assigning  topics  which  are  supplementary  to  the 
text-book  and  which  require  the  student  to  examine  sources. 

(5)  Other  Suggestions  on  Method,  {a)  The  formal  steps 
of  teaching  are  not  of  very  great  assistance  in  connection 
with  history,  because  history  is  not  primarily  a  scientific  sub- 
ject, —  one  in  which  it  is  intended  to  derive  certain  generali- 
zations. It  is  true  that  one  of  the  purposes  of  studying  the 
subject  is  to  develop  the  historical  judgment  by  giving  the 
student  the  ability  to  judge  men  and  events  in  the  past,  and 
to  transfer  the  results  of  these  judgments  to  the  judging  of 
men  and  events  of  the  present.  On  the  other  hand,  it  must 
be  borne  in  mind  that  the  greater  part  of  the  effort  of  the 
teacher  should  be  devoted  to  give  the  student  a  view  of  a 


History  of  Commerce  295 

period,  as  a  whole,  in  all  its  activities.  The  first  appeal  is, 
therefore,  to  the  imagination,  —  an  appeal  that  is  aided  con- 
siderably by  pictures,  documents,  and  other  concrete  material. 

To  look  upon  history,  therefore,  as  a  subject  which  is 
principally  designed  to  furnish  us  with  generalizations  and 
appHcations,  and  to  follow  the  sequence  of  the  so-called 
formal  steps  of  teaching,  is  to  distort  the  historical  perspec- 
tive and  to  lead  to  hasty  and  valueless  generahzations.  The 
causal  series  is,  of  course,  of  the  highest  importance.  We 
want  to  see  the  facts  in  their  causal  sequence  and  not  merely 
in  their  time  sequence,  but  the  facts  of  history  can  best  be 
understood  by  tracing  them  as  consequences  of  causes  rather 
than  discovering  the  causes  from  the  effects. 

A  rational  deductive  method  is  of  the  highest  utility  in 
history.  To  illustrate :  In  tracing  the  development  of  New 
England  as  a  manufacturing  centre,  we  might  take  the  con- 
dition of  New  England  as  it  is  to-day  and  work  backwards 
in  order  to  trace  the  causes  of  such  growth.  A  procedure  Hke 
this  would  be  appropriate  enough  in  commercial  geography, 
but  in  history  it  would  be  doing  violence  to  the  chronological 
order.  The  proper  method  would  be  to  show  certain  con- 
ditions as  they  existed  in  New  England  at  the  beginning  of 
the  nineteenth  century,  and  trace  how  inevitably  these  con- 
ditions led  to  certain  consequences.  This  is  the  method  of 
going  from  cause  to  effect.  The  formal  steps,  on  the  other 
hand,  lead  from  effect  to  cause. 

{h)  One  of  the  most  serious  defects  in  teaching  history 
consists  in  giving  the  pupils  words  or  concepts  which  they 
do  not  understand.  A  most  striking  illustration  of  this  sort 
is  the  use  of  the  term  "  charter  "  in  connection  with  the  early 
American  colonies.  The  term  "  charter  government "  is 
flung  at  the  pupils  without  any  clearing  up  of  its  historical 


296     Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

significance.  One  reason  for  this  in  the  elementary  schools 
is  that  we  do  not  bring  in  sufficiently  the  industrial  back- 
ground of  poHtical  history.  The  student  of  industrial  his- 
tory should  see  that  America  was  settled  by  the  enterprise 
of  trading  companies  which  expected  to  make  a  profitable 
venture.  He  sees  that  these  companies  received  privileges 
from  the  king,  and  these  privileges  were  embodied  in  a  charter 
which  practically  became  the  law  under  which  the  colony 
was  governed.  The  analogy  with  the  franchise  of  a  public 
service  corporation  or  the  charter  of  an  incorporated  society, 
in  which  the  privileges  of  the  corporation  are  not  only  defined 
but  restricted,  should  be  made  use  of  to  throw  light  upon 
the  historical  concepts  as  we  find  them.  Nothing  will  help 
so  much  in  the  understanding  of  the  historical  forces  at  work 
as  the  calling  up  of  a  living  picture  of  the  period.  Hence  the 
great  importance  of  aids  in  historical  teaching  to  accompHsh 
this  end. 

AIDS   IN  HISTORICAL  TEACHING 

{a)  Maps  and  charts.  In  using  maps  the  teacher  must 
be  careful  to  use  maps  of  the  period  in  illustrating  historical 
events,  and  not  maps  of  to-day.  It  interferes  with  the  work- 
ings of  the  historical  imagination  to  illustrate  the  American 
colonial  period  by  using  a  map  of  the  United  States  of  to-day. 

(h)  Visiting  of  landmarks.  Very  limited  use  of  this  can  be 
made  here. 

(c)   Pictures  of  men  and  places. 

{d)  Use  of  graphic  methods,  such  as  statistical  charts  and 
curves,  to  illustrate  such  facts  as  the  growth  of  the  popula- 
tion of  the  United  States,  etc.  They  give  a  concrete  image  of 
the  development  and  the  relation  of  events,  which  can  readily 
be  grasped  by  the  mind  which  is  repelled  by  dry  lists  of  facts 
and  figures. 


History  of  Commerce  297 

(e)  Note-books.  In  these  the  student  jots  down  the 
oral  account  supplementary  to  the  text-book,  which  the 
teacher  gives  to  the  class,  as  well  as  an  abstract  of  the 
reports  of  other  students  on  topics  assigned  them  outside 
the  book. 

(/)   School  Ubrary. 

SUMMARY 

The  history  of  commerce  can  be  studied  effectively  only 
with  the  background  of  general  history.  Hence,  its  teaching 
does  not  belong  to  the  province  of  the  commercial  teacher, 
but  to  that  of  the  teacher  of  general  history. 

The  selection  and  organization  of  facts  in  the  history  of 
commerce  is  determined  (i)  by  the  necessity  of  explaining 
the  historical  development  of  the  phenomena  of  commerce  of 
to-day ;  (2)  by  the  value  of  studying  the  lessons  of  success 
and  failure  of  experiments  of  the  past,  as  a  guide  to  present 
conduct. 

In  mediaeval  history  we  find  the  roots  of  many  of  our 
commercial  institutions.  The  history  of  England  may  be 
made  the  centre  of  organization  for  the  study  of  the  mediaeval 
history  of  commerce  and  of  modern  history  up  to  the  nine- 
teenth century ;  and  especially  in  connection  with  the  causes 
and  results  of  the  industrial  revolution,  which  is  one  of  the 
most  important  topics  in  the  history  of  commerce.  In  the 
nineteenth  century  the  United  States  may  be  made  the  basis 
of  organization. 

The  methods  of  stud3dng  history  are  (i)  the  text-book 
method ;  (2)  the  topical  method ;  (3)  the  source  method ; 
and  (4)  the  combined  method.  The  formal  steps  of  teaching 
have  only  a  Hmited  appHcation  to  the  study  of  history.  In 
teaching  history,  concepts  are  frequently  given  which  are 


298    Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

abstract  and  empty.  Important  aids  in  making  the  study 
concrete  are  maps,  landmarks,  pictures  of  men  and  places, 
use  of  graphic  methods,  note-books,  and  supplementary 
books  in  the  school  library. 

EXERCISES 

GROUP   ONE 

1.  Under  what  conditions  would  you  teach  the  history  of  commerce 
as  a  special  subject  ?  Which  department  should  take  charge  of  it,  — 
the  department  of  commerce  or  of  history  ?     Why  ? 

2.  Give  an  illustration  of  some  concept  in  the  history  of  commerce 
(like  the  guilds  or  the  town) ,  and  show  how  you  would  make  it  concrete 
to  the  student. 

3.  Give  the  relative  uses  of  the  text-book  method,  the  topical  method, 
and  the  source  method  in  the  teaching  of  industrial  history. 

4.  Discuss  the  value  of  maps  and  charts  in  history,  treating  of  the 
following  points :  {a)  their  uses ;  {b)  methods  of  utilizing  them  to  the 
best  advantage ;   (c)  their  limitations. 

5.  Show,  by  reference  to  the  origin  and  rise  of  corporations,  how  you 
would  correlate  the  history  of  commerce  with  law. 

6.  Outline  a  lesson  on  the  development  of  banking.  How  would  you 
correlate  this  topic  with  the  principles  of  banking  discussed  in  economics 
or  in  the  technique  of  commerce  ? 

GROUP  TWO 

1.  Illustrate  the  going  from  cause  to  eflFect  and  from  effect  to  cause  in 
history,  and  show  when  each  form  of  movement  is  used. 

2.  Choosing  as  your  topic  the  manufactures  of  New  England,  give  a 
lesson  designed  to  bring  out  the  influence  of  geography  upon  history. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 

BOGART,  E.  L.,  Economic  History  of  the   United  States.     New  York, 

Longmans,  Green  &  Co.,  1908. 
Bourne,  H.  E.,  Teaching  of  History  and  Civics.    New  York,  Longmans, 

Green  &  Co.,  1902. 


History  of  Commerce  299 

Cheney,  E.  P.,  Industrial  and  Social  History  of  England.  New  York, 
Macmillan  Co.,  1908. 

CoMAN,  K.,  Industrial  History  of  the  United  States.  New  York,  Mac- 
millan Co.,  1905. 

Day,  C,  History  of  Commerce.  New  York,  Longmans,  Green  &  Co., 
1907. 

GiBBiNS,  H.  B.,  Industrial  History  of  England.  London,  Methuen  & 
Co.,  1906. 

Mace,  W.  H.,  Method  in  History.     Boston,  Ginn  &  Co.,  1897. 

Webster,  W.  C,  General  History  of  Commerce.  New  York,  Ginn  &  Co., 
1903. 


CHAPTER  XI 

Commercial  Law 
difficulties  and  faults  of  teaching 

This  subject  suffers  almost  as  much  from  faulty  teaching 
as  commercial  geography.  One  of  the  serious  obstacles  to 
improvement  in  this  direction  is  the  fact  that  very  Uttle  has 
been  written  on  the  subject  of  the  teaching  of  law,  particu- 
larly from  the  standpoint  of  the  secondary  school.  On  the 
other  hand,  there  are  a  number  of  works  on  method  in 
geography,  and  the  text-books  themselves  throw  a  great  deal 
of  light  on  methodology  in  the  subject.  While  there  are 
several  satisfactory  text-books  in  commercial  law  available 
for  secondary  schools,  they  do  not,  as  a  rule,  throw  sufficient 
light  upon  the  adaptation  of  the  principles  of  teaching  to 
instruction  in  law. 

The  defects  in  the  teaching  of  law  in  secondary  schools  are 
due  to  the  following  causes :  (i)  Lack  of  appreciation  by  the 
teacher  of  the  true  purpose  of  the  subject.  Those  who  frame 
the  curriculum,  too,  are  vaguely  aware  of  the  fact  that  train- 
ing for  business  requires  some  knowledge  of  law.  But  a 
purpose,  in  order  to  be  helpful  in  guiding  the  teacher  in  his 
work,  should  be  more  definitely  formulated,  and  this  will  be 
done  below.  (2)  A  lack  of  scholarship  on  the  part  of  the 
teacher.  The  latter  can  hardly  be  held  to  a  serious  respon- 
sibility for  this  lack,  because  he  is  generally  a  layman  in  the 
subject,  and  having  many  different  branches  to  handle,  it  is 
very  difficult  for  him  to  give  expert  attention  to  this  subject 

300 


Commercial  Law  301 

unless  he  has  some  definite  guidance.  On  the  other  hand, 
it  is  generally  difficult  for  a  school  to  find  a  teacher  who  has 
had  a  law  school  training.  Where  such  a  teacher  is  avail- 
able, of  course,  this  difficulty  falls  away,  but  even  in  the  case 
of  a  layman,  the  difficulty  due  to  lack  of  scholarship  is  not 
insuperable,  and  it  will  be  shown  how  the  teacher  who  has 
had  no  legal  training  can  perfect  himself,  at  least  to  the  extent 
of  obtaining  the  proper  breadth  of  view  and  understanding 
of  the  sources  of  the  law,  from  which  he  can  add  to  his  im- 
perfect store  of  knowledge  when  occasion  requires.  (3)  A 
violation  of  the  important  principles  of  teaching,  due  either 
to  ignorance  of  pedagogy  or  to  inability  of  the  teacher  to 
apply  the  principles  of  teaching  to  commercial  law,  because 
of  his  failure  to  grasp  the  true  purpose  of  the  study,  or  to 
understand  the  various  parts  of  the  subject  in  their  organic 
relation. 

The  notion  that  any  one  who  understands  the  subject  is 
properly  equipped  to  teach  it  has  long  ago  been  exploded. 
The  lawyer,  therefore,  may  have  an  excellent  grasp  of  his 
subject,  but  it  does  not  follow  that  he  will  necessarily  make  a 
good  teacher  of  commercial  law,  because  of  his  ignorance  of 
methods  of  teaching  it.  And  thus,  we  find  many  great  scholars 
in  a  subject  who  are  utter  failures  when  they  attempt  to 
teach  their  subject ;  a  fact  which  has  led  a  cynic  to  remark, 
that  a  person's  ability  to  teach  is  in  inverse  proportion  to 
his  scholarship.  Of  course,  we  subscribe  to  no  such  heresy. 
While  it  is  true  that  the  good  secondary  school  teacher,  who 
is  excellent  in  his  methods  of  presentation  and  drill,  will, 
nevertheless,  fail  as  a  teacher  of  commercial  law,  if  he  lacks 
breadth  of  view,  scholarship,  and  proper  perspective,  we 
nevertheless  hold  that  with  only  the  fractional  scholarship 
in  law  which  the  lawyer  possesses  he  will  make  a  very  much 


302     Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

better  teacher  than  the  latter,  because  he  will  keep  on  the 
level  of  his  pupils'  attainments,  he  will  arouse  their  self- 
activity,  and  he  will  give  them  the  necessary  amount  of  in- 
telligent drill. 

The  knowledge  of  the  principles  of  teaching  is,  therefore, 
of  great  importance,  and  without  it  all  the  scholarship  in  the 
world  will  not  avail.  On  the  other  hand,  there  are  special 
problems  connected  with  the  teaching  of  commercial  law  and 
special  methods  which  grow  out  of  an  appreciation  of  the 
true  purpose  of  the  subject.  Consequently,  the  commercial 
teacher,  even  though  he  has  been  trained  in  pedagogy,  must 
understand  the  true  purpose  of  the  subject  and  the  special 
problems  in  method  which  arise  in  the  attempt  to  realize  this. 
We  must  therefore  pass  in  review  the  purpose  which  underlies 
the  teaching  of  the  subject  in  the  commercial  school. 

VALUE   OF   THE   STUDY 

Utilitarian  Value.  —  We  noted  in  Chapter  I  the  general  pur- 
pose of  the  study  of  commercial  law  as  an  element  in  business 
education,  and  we  found  that  men  in  business,  in  their  deal- 
ings with  each  other,  constantly  come  into  difi&culties  in  which 
they  must  safeguard  their  rights.  This  they  can  only  do 
properly  if  they  know  the  law.  Of  course,  it  may  be  sug- 
gested here  that  a  business  man  who  is  his  own  lawyer  has  a 
fool  for  a  client,  but  it  is  not  the  intention  that  he  should 
study  law  in  order  to  be  able  to  conduct  his  own  litigation. 
It  is  imperative,  however,  that  he  should  know  how  to  in- 
trench himself  in  all  his  contracts  and  other  legal  relations 
so  as  to  protect  himself  against  unwarranted  attack  and  to 
provide  himself  with  the  arms  to  enforce  his  rights,  if  they 
should  be  challenged.  A  good  deal  of  unnecessary  litigation 
would  be  avoided  if  every  person,  at  the  time  he  entered  into 


Commercial  Law  303 

his  contracts  or  business  engagements,  safeguarded  his  rights 
in  the  proper  way.  While  it  is  true  that  for  his  more  important 
contracts  he  will  consult  his  lawyer,  there  are  numerous 
occasions  in  which  he  does  not  have  the  lawyer  at  his  beck 
and  call,  in  which  he  must  act  quickly,  and  in  which,  there- 
fore, his  knowledge  of  law  will  be  of  the  greatest  help. 

As  a  general  rule,  in  spite  of  carping  critics  to  the  con- 
trary, the  standard  of  commercial  integrity  is  high,  and 
business  men  carry  out  promises  which  they  could  avoid 
through  legal  technicalities  or  flaws.  If  this  were  not  the 
case,  the  courts  would  be  flooded  with  litigation.  On  the 
other  hand,  faith  in  the  integrity  of  the  person  he  is  dealing 
with  has  led  many  a  business  man  to  great  losses,  which 
could  have  been  avoided  if  he  had  known  the  law.  The  mere 
knowledge  by  an  unscrupulous  opponent  of  the  legal  strength 
of  a  person's  position  leads  him  to  refrain  from  attack  or 
from  avoiding  his  obligations.  To  sum  up,  then,  we  may 
say,  almost  paradoxically,  that  a  man  in  business  should 
have  a  knowledge  of  law,  not  in  order  to  practise  it,  but  in 
order  to  know  how  to  avoid  Htigation. 

In  a  more  narrow  utilitarian  sense,  the  study  of  law  is  of 
very  great  importance  to  the  student  who  contemplates 
specializing  in  the  profession  of  pubHc  accountancy.  Prob- 
lems which  the  accountant  has  to  solve  are  intimately  con- 
nected with  legal  questions.  While  it  is  true  that  in  most 
important  matters  the  lawyer  will  be  consulted,  the  ac- 
countant who  is  properly  trained  in  the  fundamental  prin- 
ciples of  law  will  detect  legal  points,  the  consideration  of 
which  is  of  highest  importance  to  the  business ;  —  points  the 
existence  of  which  neither  the  lawyer  nor  the  principal  would 
have  been  aware  of,  without  the  assistance  of  the  speciaHzed 
knowledge  of  the  accountant.     No  wonder,  then,  that  com- 


304    Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

mercial  law  is  one  of  the  required  subjects  of  the  examina- 
tion for  the  degree  of  certified  public  accountant. 

It  may  be  objected  that  the  place  for  this  study  should  be 
the  university  and  not  the  secondary  school,  because  it  is 
not  the  function  of  the  latter  to  prepare  for  the  practice  of 
the  accountant's  profession.  While  it  is  true  that  it  is  not 
the  function  of  the  secondary  school  to  give  specialized  prepa- 
ration in  a  particular  line  of  business  activity,  it  should, 
nevertheless,  lay  a  broad  foundation  in  law,  on  the  basis  of 
which  the  university  student  who  specializes  afterwards  in 
a  particular  phase  of  the  subject  can  pursue  his  narrower 
field  with  the  proper  perspective.  Again,  a  number  of  sub- 
jects studied  in  the  secondary  schools,  such  as  accounting, 
will  be  repeated  in  the  university.  But  this  repetition  will 
be,  not  a  case  of  travelling  over  the  same  ground,  but  a  spiral 
repetition.  The  point  of  view  will  be  broader,  and  the  work 
at  the  same  time  will  be  more  intensive.  A  good  foundation 
laid  in  the  secondary  school  will  be  of  immense  help  in  the 
more  advanced  study  of  the  same  subject  in  the  higher  school 
of  commerce. 

Culture  Value.  —  We  have  spoken  of  the  utilitarian  value 
of  the  study  of  law.  There  is  another  view,  the  broad 
cultural  one,  which  deserves  consideration.  Every  educator 
reaUzes  the  importance,  in  education  for  citizenship,  of  a  knowl- 
edge of  our  institutions  to  those  who  are  going  to  participate 
in  maintaining  them.  The  course  in  civics  partially  supphes 
this  need  by  training  the  future  citizen  to  comprehend  the 
sources  and  development  of  our  institutions,  and  his  relation 
to  them.  Every  well-arranged  course  in  civics  devotes  con- 
siderable attention  to  what  may  be  called  public  or  constitu- 
tional law,  including  the  work  of  our  legislatures  and  of  our 
executives  and  the  duties  of  citizenship.     But  the  work  of 


Commercial  Law  305 

our  courts  is  given  very  little  attention  in  the  ordinary  course, 
beyond  a  statement  of  the  kinds  of  courts  and  their  jurisdic- 
tion. The  great  body  of  private  law  which  regulates  the 
legal  relations  of  individuals  in  society  to  each  other  is  en- 
tirely neglected.  The  work  of  the  courts  which  have  been  in- 
strumental in  establishing  this  great  body  of  law,  the  study 
of  the  problems  they  have  met,  and  how  they  have  attempted 
to  work  them  out,  the  meaning  of  precedent,  the  value  of 
establishing  a  general  rule  which  will  also  work  out  sub- 
stantial justice,  —  these  are  all  problems  which,  in  great  part, 
are  neglected  by  the  student  of  civics. 

The  good  course  in  commercial  law,  in  supplying  this  need, 
contributes  in  great  part  to  the  culture  of  the  citizen  by 
giving  him  a  better  knowledge  of  the  meaning  of  our  institu- 
tions, and  of  his  duties  to  the  state  and  to  other  individuals. 
Furthermore,  a  knowledge  of  the  workings  of  our  courts  is 
indispensable  in  connection  with  intelligent  opinion  and 
action  on  such  subjects  as  the  recall  of  judges  and  judicial 
decisions.  How  can  a  person  unacquainted  with  the  basis  of 
our  law  and  the  function  of  our  judges  and  the  bases  of  their 
decisions  vote  intelligently  upon  any  proposition  involving 
our  judicial  system?  The  study  of  law  gives  us  not  only  a 
better  view  of  the  growth  of  our  institutions,  but  it  also 
gives  us  a  better  understanding  of  many  of  the  established 
forms  of  commercial  life.  No  student  can  understand  such 
subjects  as  the  evolution  of  corporations  or  the  development 
of  the  use  of  negotiable  instruments,  without  an  understand- 
ing of  the  growth  of  the  law  on  these  subjects.  The  study  of 
commercial  law  will,  therefore,  throw  interesting  light  upon 
the  growth  of  commercial  institutions  and  instrumentalities. 
Just  as  history  throws  light  upon  law,  so,  conversely,  the 
study  of  law  will  throw  light  upon  industrial  history. 


3o6     Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

Disciplinary  Value.  —  Another  aim  which  is  going  to  in- 
fluence the  teacher  is  the  disciplinary  one.  Irrespective  of 
whether  the  powers  gained  from  the  study  of  law  are  trans- 
ferable to  other  subjects,  it  is  nevertheless  true  that  the  aim 
of  the  teacher  to  give  the  student  power  to  reason  about  law, 
rather  than  information  about  it,  will  influence,  and,  in  fact, 
direct  the  instructor's  course  in  the  presentation  of  the  sub- 
ject. It  is  peculiarly  true  of  law,  that  the  uninitiated  look 
upon  it  as  a  subject  crammed  with  facts  that  must  be  memor- 
ized in  great  part  by  the  student,  and  they  look  with  awe  upon 
the  many  formidable  tomes  in  which  the  law  is  found,  and 
which  they  surmise  the  person  who  would  be  learned  in  the 
law  must  absorb.  One  who  knows  what  the  study  of  law 
means  realizes  what  a  misconception  underlies  this  view.  A 
lawyer's  knowledge  of  the  law  is  one  of  fundamental  prin- 
ciples, and  it  involves  not  merely  familiarity  with  the  prin- 
ciples, but  ability  to  recognize  the  principle  as  it  appears  in 
numerous  concrete  situations  or  cases.  The  ability  to  apply 
the  principle,  the  ability  to  sift  and  digest  decisions,  to  recog- 
nize differences  between  apparently  similar  situations,  and 
similarities  in  apparently  diflerent  cases,  and  to  reconcile 
apparent  contradictions,  —  all  this  is  a  matter  of  training  of 
judgment  and  reasoning,  and  not  a  mere  matter  of  knowledge 
of  abstract  rules.  It  is  therefore  evident  that  the  aim  of  the 
teacher  should  be  the  development  of  power  to  reason  about 
law,  of  the  ability  to  apply  the  law  to  various  situations,  and 
of  the  power  to  find  the  law  on  any  subject  whenever  one 
needs  it.  The  ability  to  conduct  research  is  very  essential 
to  a  lawyer,  because  his  argument  is,  to  such  a  large  extent, 
based  upon  authority.  This  ability  may  be  of  minor  im- 
portance to  the  secondary  school  student,  but  it  has  an  in- 
teresting phase,  which  will  be  discussed  later,  in  connection 


Commercial  Law  307 

with  the  advisability  of  research  work,  by  the  student  of  our 
course. 

This  view  of  the  aim  of  the  teacher,  which  directs  him  to 
look  to  the  development  of  power  in  the  student,  rather  than 
to  imparting  information,  is  emphasized,  because  it  has  an 
influence  upon  methods  of  teaching  and  upon  selection  of 
material  to  be  taught.  Following  are  some  of  the  aspects  to 
which  this  view  leads  : 

(i)  The  teaching  of  law  is  not  principally  designed  to  fur- 
nish a  mass  of  information  to  the  student.  This  is  because 
the  information  is  too  vast  and  unorganized  and  because 
there  is  too  much  of  it  that  is  apparently  conflicting  or  in- 
consistent. The  legally  trained  mind  should  be  able  to  recon- 
cile apparently  conflicting  decisions  when  these  are  not  in 
direct  opposition,  to  understand  the  fundamental  reasons 
back  of  the  decisions,  to  appreciate  the  reasons  which  have 
led  the  courts  to  deviate  from  the  former  decisions,  and  to 
comprehend  the  distinguishing  elements  in  cases  which  to  the 
lay  mind  are  apparently  similar.  This  ability  requires  train- 
ing in  judgment  and  reasoning,  both  of  which  are  exercised 
by  practice.  An  opportunity  for  such  practice  is  given  by 
the  teacher  when  he  asks  the  student  to  decide  a  certain  case, 
to  give  the  reasons  for  a  given  legal  decision,  and  to  say 
whether  he  agrees  with  the  decision  or  not. 

(2)  A  second  direction  in  which  this  view  influences  the 
teacher  is  in  the  handling  of  principles  upon  which  there  is 
no  unanimity  in  the  various  states.  As  our  text-books  are 
not  intended  to  have  their  use  restricted  to  a  particular  state, 
they  attempt  to  do  justice  to  all  sides,  by  mentioning  that 
the  law  in  some  states  is  thus  and  so,  while  in  other  states  it 
is  different.  Now,  as  a  piece  of  information  judged  from  the 
point  of  utility,  this  is  valueless.     If  we  live  in  New  York 


3o8     Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

State,  we  want  to  know  what  the  law  in  New  York  is,  and 
(again  if  we  keep  the  utilitarian  side  in  mind)  what  the 
law  in  other  states  is  does  not  concern  us.  This  so-called 
practical  point  of  view  was  formerly  taken  by  the  New  York 
Board  of  Law  Examiners,  who  marked  an  answer  incorrect, 
no  matter  how  sound  its  reasoning,  or  how  much  in  accord 
with  the  common  law,  unless  it  was  in  harmony  with  the  law 
in  the  state.  In  line  with  this  poHcy,  the  same  board  gave 
partial  credit  for  answers  which  were  correct,  but  which 
contained  no  reasons.  Under  the  direction  of  the  court  the 
Board  has  recently  reversed  its  attitude  and  now  gives  credit 
principally  for  the  soundness  of  reasoning  of  the  answer. 
This  should  be  the  attitude  of  every  teacher  who  is  marking 
examination  papers,  —  to  give  no  credit  for  guess  answers 
and  to  rate  the  papers  principally  on  the  ability  to  reason 
which  they  display. 

We  may  sum  up  the  reason  for  mentioning  conflicting 
decisions  on  any  subject,  even  if  a  decision  in  the  state  in 
which  the  student  Hves  is  clear  and  definite.  It  is  the  same 
as  the  reason  which  prompts  the  case  books  to  give  dissenting 
opinions  of  judges.  The  discussion  of  conflicting  views 
gives  the  student  a  better  insight  of  the  reasons  which 
prompted  the  decision ;  it  gives  him  the  power  of  judgment 
to  weigh  in  the  balance  opposing  opinions ;  it  trains  him  to 
think  about  law,  rather  than  to  remember  mere  decisions  or 
statutes,  by  discouraging  guesswork  and  putting  a  premium 
on  reasoning. 

In  the  preceding  paragraphs  we  noted  that  the  develop- 
ment of  power  to  think  law,  rather  than  the  knowledge  of 
legal  facts,  should  determine  our  aim  in  teaching  commercial 
law.  What  will  be  the  result  of  teaching  the  subject  with 
such  an  aim  in  view  ?    Obviously,  there  will  be  a  gain  of  power 


Commercial  Law  309 

to  analyze  legal  situations,  to  apply  principles  to  states  of 
fact,  to  understand  the  reason  for  certain  rules  of  law,  and 
to  deduce  consequences  from  these  rules.  We  may  add  that 
the  necessity  of  apprehending  a  given  case  requires  the  stu- 
dent to  put  himself  mentally  into  the  situation  which  gave 
rise  to  the  dispute.  Otherwise,  his  judgment  will  be  abstract 
and  mechanical.  In  his  constant  efforts  to  reproduce  the 
various  conditions  which  give  rise  to  Htigation,  and  to  get  a 
sympathetic  apprehension  of  the  facts,  a  student  will  culti- 
vate his  imagination. 

Some  may  say  that  the  development  of  judgment  and 
imagination  will  be  of  use  only  in  connection  with  legal  facts, 
and  that  those  powers  as  gained  from  the  study  of  law  will 
not  be  capable  of  transfer  to  other  subjects.  In  reply  it  may 
be  said  that  law  cases  deal  with  concrete  phases  of  Hfe ;  that 
the  problems  of  law  are  such  as  one  might  meet  in  everyday 
affairs ;  and  that  therefore  the  trained  lawyer  has  more 
power  and  aptitude  to  apply  his  ability  to  situations  outside 
of  his  profession  than  the  trained  professional  man  in  any 
other  vocation.  It  is  for  this  reason  that  we  find  lawyers 
occupying  most  of  the  administrative  positions  in  pubHc  life 
and  even  in  the  commercial  and  financial  world.  Those  who 
belittle  the  disciphnary  value  of  a  study  have  particularly 
in  mind  the  student  of  mathematics  who,  in  spite  of  his 
great  power  to  reason  in  his  specialty,  may  show  no  aptitude 
whatever  in  other  affairs  of  life.  This  is  due  partly  to  the 
abstract  nature  of  mathematical  facts  and  to  the  failure  of 
teachers  to  show  the  applicability  of  these  facts  to  concrete 
experience.  On  the  other  hand,  the  defender  of  mathematics, 
especially  of  geometry,  points  to  the  valuable  training  the 
student  derives  in  learning  how  to  deduce  the  logical  conse- 
quences of  a  given  hypothesis.     In  this  respect,  however, 


3IO    Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

law  is  not  at  a  disadvantage.  The  student  is  constantly 
required  to  trace  the  results  growing  out  of  a  given  situation 
(hypothesis) ;  he  notes  how  changes  in  the  facts  give  rise  to 
different  decisions,  and  he  thus  gets  valuable  training  in  de- 
ductive reasoning.  In  other  words,  the  training  in  judgment 
and  reasoning  derived  from  the  study  of  law  is  more  valuable 
than  the  similar  training  in  reasoning  derived  from  deductive 
geometry.  While  it  is  true  that  the  chain  of  reasoning  in 
law  is  not  so  rigorous  as  in  mathematics,  this  defect  is  made 
up  by  the  concrete  content  which  it  possesses,  and  which 
therefore  helps  to  make  the  power  derived  from  it  applicable 
to  other  fields  of  study. 

Correlation  Value.  — The  study  of  commercial  law  is  also 
valuable  if  properly  pursued,  on  account  of  the  light  it  throws 
on  other  subjects.  In  the  history  of  commerce  we  trace  the 
development  of  commercial  institutions  and  instrumentalities 
of  commerce.  Most  of  the  phases  of  law  are  the  outgrowth 
of  conditions  which  had  to  be  met  in  defining  and  safeguarding 
the  rights  of  persons  in  their  dealings  with  others.  Any 
study  of  law  which  leaves  out  of  sight  the  historical  or  de- 
velopment element  misses  an  important  possibility  for  cul- 
ture and  loses  a  phase  without  which  the  principles  are  only 
partially  understood.  This  is  particularly  true  of  the  law  of 
merchants  and  the  Statute  of  Frauds.  The  development  of 
law  is  necessarily  a  reflex  of  historical  conditions,  and  thus 
history  and  law  reenforce  each  other. 

In  connection  with  arithmetic,  we  find  similar  correlation 
elements.  The  student  of  arithmetic  who  reads  about  legal 
rate  of  interest.  United  States  rule  (in  partial  payments), 
days  of  grace,  interest  on  accounts  overdue,  etc.,  has  only  a 
vague  notion  of  what  these  terms  mean.  The  good  teacher 
of  arithmetic,  of  course,  explains  these  matters  to  the  class. 


Commercial  Law  311 

But  as  the  study  precedes  that  of  law  in  the  course,  the 
understanding  of  these  notions  is  only  vague.  Not  until  the 
student  takes  up  commercial  law  is  there  an  opportunity 
for  a  complete  exposition  of  these  topics  in  arithmetic.  And 
it  is  the  duty  of  the  teacher  of  law  to  add  a  familiar  touch 
by  referring  to  those  topics  in  arithmetic  which  the  study  of 
law  helps  to  clear  up.  Similarly,  commercial  law,  deaHng 
as  it  does  with  business,  naturally  gives  to  the  students 
interesting  side-lights  upon  many  forms  of  business  practice, 
—  forms  that  are  good  and  forms  and  procedure  that  should 
be  avoided  in  order  to  keep  from  litigation. 

With  regard  to  correlation  of  law  and  accounting,  we  must 
refer  in  part  to  what  was  said  about  the  utility  of  law  to  the 
accountant.  The  corporation  accountant,  in  particular, 
must  constantly  refer  to  legal  decisions  on  the  subjects.  Many 
of  the  forms  which  the  accountant  and  auditor  uses  are  deter- 
mined by  law.  The  teacher  of  commercial  law  should, 
therefore,  as  much  as  possible,  show  how  legal  principles 
affect  accounting  forms  and  practice. 

THE    SECONDARY   SCHOOL   COURSE   IN   COMMERCIAL   LAW 

Topics  to  be  Included.  —  The  question  of  selection  of  topics 
for  purposes  of  the  secondary  school  course  is  a  very  vital 
one ;  first,  because  the  field  of  commercial  law  is  very  large, 
and  its  boundaries  not  definite ;  secondly,  because  the  time 
available  for  the  subject  is  Hmited,  and  if  superficiality  is 
to  be  avoided  and  effective  work  invited,  the  teacher  will 
have  to  confine  his  instruction  to  essential  topics.  In  view 
of  the  embarrassment  of  riches  which  the  subject  offers,  the 
problem  will  become,  to  a  large  extent,  one  of  exclusion. 
This  policy  we  shall  have  to  follow  on  the  principle  that  it 
is  better  to  teach  a  few  topics  effectively  than  a  large  num- 


312     Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

ber  superficially.  The  danger  of  superficial  treatment  arises 
from  the  fact  that  the  appeal  in  that  case  will  be  in  large  part 
to  the  mechanical  memory,  and  rational  consideration  and 
discussion  will  be  almost  impossible. 

When  we  look  at  the  content  of  the  ordinary  text-book  for 
secondary  schools,  and  find  how  much  ground  it  attempts 
to  cover  and  how  many  topics  it  attempts  to  crowd  in,  we 
can  draw  this  conclusion,  a  priori,  that  the  teacher  is  in- 
vited to  cram  all  these  facts  into  the  minds  of  his  pupils,  with 
little  regard  to  reasoning,  discussion,  drill,  and  consequent 
assimilation.  No  matter  how  good  the  teacher  is,  and  no 
matter  how  well  intentioned  he  may  be,  the  necessity  of 
covering  a  good  deal  of  ground  prevents  him  from  giving 
due  attention  to  methods  which  will  stimulate  the  pupil's 
mind  and  develop  in  him  an  abiding  interest  in  the  subject. 
Even  the  professional  law  school  is  compelled  to  Umit  the 
ground  to  be  covered  because  of  the  many  ramifications  of 
the  subject,  and  it  is  satisfied  to  give  the  students  the  leading 
principles  of  the  important  subjects  together  with  practice 
in  their  apphcations.  To  make  up  for  this  necessary  limita- 
tion, outside  of  providing  post-graduate  work  for  those  who 
intend  to  specialize  in  some  branch,  it  shows  the  student  how 
to  handle  a  problem  in  law,  and  how  to  trace  its  solution  back 
to  the  authorities. 

How,  then,  shall  we  limit  the  field  so  as  to  omit  nothing 
essential  and  so  as  to  cover  the  ground  in  an  effective  manner 
within  the  allotted  time?  Let  us  take  it  for  granted  that 
certain  essential  preliminary  topics  have  been  covered. 
What  these  are,  we  shall  find  later  in  the  discussion  of  the 
first  lessons.  We  must  then  determine  what  topics  belong- 
ing to  the  field  of  substantive  law  are  essential  in  a  business 
course,  and  to  do  so,  we  must  decide  upon  the  principles 


Commercial  Law  313 

which  will  guide  us  in  our  choice.  First,  of  course,  we  must 
choose  the  branch  upon  which  all  other  branches  lean,  and 
of  which  most  of  them  are  only  special  ramifications.  This 
is  the  law  of  contracts.  Secondly,  we  must  choose  that  special 
application  of  contracts  which  is  of  the  highest  importance  in 
the  mercantile  world,  and  which  in  fact  constitutes  its  essence, 
—  contracts  for  the  sale  of  personal  property.  Thirdly,  the 
extensive  use  of  credit  in  modern  business  necessitates  the 
study  of  the  law  of  credit  instruments.  Hence,  we  must 
include  the  law  of  commercial  paper.  These,  then,  are  the 
three  essential  topics  in  commercial  law  which  the  considera- 
tion of  utiHty  alone,  not  to  mention  other  reasons,  would 
determine  us  in  including :  contracts,  sales  of  personal  prop- 
erty, negotiable  instruments. 

It  may  be  asked  why  the  subject  of  real  property  is  not 
included  in  our  topics  of  the  first  Hne  of  importance.  The 
reason  is,  first,  that  the  subject  as  a  whole  is  very  technical ; 
secondly,  real  estate  transactions  are  a  special  kind  of  mer- 
cantile transaction,  and  are  not  comparable,  as  far  as  wide- 
spread application  in  business  is  concerned,  to  sales  of  per- 
sonal property.  It  is  only  fair  to  require  that  one  who  wishes 
to  speciahze  in  real  estate  law  because  he  expects  it  to  be 
within  the  field  of  his  vocational  endeavor  should  take  a 
special  course  in  the  subject. 

One  phase  of  real  estate  law,  however,  —  the  law  of  land- 
lord and  tenant,  —  does  belong  to  the  essential  part  of  our 
course.  We  may  put  it  among  our  subjects  in  the  second 
hne  of  importance.  Another  phase  of  it,  too,  is  necessarily 
connected  with  the  subject  of  contracts  and  sales,  and  that 
is  the  distinction  between  real  and  personal  property.  The 
study  of  the  Statute  of  Frauds  as  a  branch  of  the  law  of  con- 
tracts will  bring  in,  for  purposes  of  illustration,  the  question 


314     Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

of  what  is  real  property.  The  subject  of  fixtures  is  connected 
with  this  question,  as  are  other  subtopics  which  belong  to 
the  borderland  between  real  and  personal  property. 

In  our  subjects  of  the  second  Hne  of  importance  we  shall 
include  agency,  partnership,  bailment  and  common  carrier, 
and  landlord  and  tenant.  It  requires  Httle  discussion  to 
justify  the  inclusion  of  agency  in  our  course.  The  complexi- 
ties of  business  make  it  impossible  for  the  executive  to  attend 
to  many  of  the  details  of  the  business  personally,  and  necessi- 
tate a  delegation  of  his  authority.  This  leads  to  many  prob- 
lems that  are  unique,  in  the  sense  that  their  solution  is  not  a 
special  application  of  the  law  of  contracts.  Thus,  the  whole 
subject  of  "  undisclosed  principal  "  is  of  great  practical  im- 
portance in  business,  and  deserves  the  special  consideration 
it  receives  in  the  topic  of  "  agency."  "  Partnership  "  is  very 
closely  related  to  agency,  and,  besides,  is  of  obvious  impor- 
tance.    It  is  therefore  also  included. 

It  may  be  surprising  that  "  corporations,"  a  subject  so 
closely  related  to  partnership,  is  not  included  even  in  the 
subjects  of  the  second  line  of  importance.  The  fact  is  that 
the  law  of  corporations  has  so  many  technical  aspects  de- 
pendent upon  statute  law  in  the  different  states  that  it  is 
hardly  suited  to  satisfactory  treatment  in  the  secondary 
school  course.  There  are  several  practical  phases  connected 
with  corporations  that  are  of  the  utmost  importance.  This 
is  particularly  true  in  connection  with  the  course  on  tech- 
nique of  commerce,  in  which  the  subject  of  the  corporation, 
as  a  form  of  business  organization,  receives  special  attention. 
Historically,  too,  the  corporation,  in  the  seventeenth  and 
eighteenth  century,  was  responsible  for  the  settlement  and  the 
industrial  development  of  many  parts  of  the  world.  And  in 
the  nineteenth  and  twentieth  century   the    corporation   has 


Commercial  Law  315 

been  instrumental  in  carrying  out  the  greatest  industrial 
enterprises  of  modern  times.  With  its  tremendous  resources 
and  its  potentiahties  for  goods,  there  have  been  serious 
abuses  of  power.  The  discussion  of  the  corporation  will 
therefore  be  amply  covered  in  the  history  of  commerce, 
economics,  and  technique  of  commerce ;  and  many  legal 
aspects  of  corporations  may  be  profitably  considered  in  corre- 
lation with  the  other  work.  Moreover,  corporation  account- 
ing raises  a  number  of  important  questions  regarding  the 
status  of  various  kinds  of  stock,  the  rights  and  Habihties  of 
stockholders  and  directors,  etc.,  and  these  topics  should  be 
handled  as  they  arise.  To  consider  them  apart  from  their 
applications  to  accounting,  or  finance,  is  to  make  them  ab- 
stract, uninteresting,  and  unprofitable. 

"  Common  carriers,"  in  view  of  the  importance  of  the 
railroad  to  the  business  man,  deserves  special  treatment.  It 
may  be  more  closely  connected  with  economics  and  civics 
by  including  in  it  the  problem  of  government  regulation. 
"  Bailments  "  is  so  closely  connected  with  "  common  carriers  " 
—  in  fact  the  latter  presupposes  the  former  —  that  it  should 
also  be  included. 

In  topics  of  the  third  line  of  importance  we  shall  include 
insurance,  guaranty  and  surety,  and  possibly  a  brief  treatment 
of  corporations. 

One  who  looks  over  the  list  of  topics  recommended,  and 
compares  it  with  the  topics  in  the  ordinary  text-book,  may 
wonder  how  we  have  limited  the  field  of  study,  as  we  said 
we  would  do,  in  view  of  the  fact  that  we  have  included 
practically  every  topic  considered  in  the  ordinary  book.  In 
reply  we  may  say  that  the  division  of  topics  in  accordance 
with  primary,  secondary,  and  tertiary  importance  implies 
emphasis  upon  thoroughness  in  the  subjects  of  contracts,  sales, 


3i6     Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

and  commercial  paper;  a  selection  of  the  leading  principles 
of  agency,  partnership,  landlord  and  tenant,  bailments  and 
carriers,  and  a  thorough  discussion  of  these ;  and  a  brief 
general  treatment  of  corporations,  insurance,  guaranty  and 
surety,  particularly  with  reference  to  their  aspects  of  corre- 
lation with  business  practice.  Our  most  important  topics 
will  therefore  be  thoroughly  discussed,  with  many  illustrative 
cases  and  legal  problems;  our  topics  in  the  second  line  of 
importance  will  be  handled  the  same  way,  but  their  number 
will  be  limited ;  while  the  topics  of  the  third  line  of  impor- 
tance will  receive  a  still  briefer  and  less  technical  treatment. 

Preliminary  Topics.  —  In  our  survey  of  the  essential  topics 
which  made  up  the  substance  of  commercial  law  we  men- 
tioned the  law  of  contracts  as  the  foundation  upon  which 
most  of  the  other  topics  are  based.  This  might  suggest  that 
we  ought  to  begin  our  course  with  the  study  of  the  principles 
which  underhe  contracts.  Logically  this  would  be  the 
correct  procedure,  but  pedagogically  it  would  not.  It  would 
be  giving  the  impression  to  the  student  that  the  principles 
of  law  are  ready  made,  and  it  would  not  only  fail  to  point 
out  that  law  is  a  matter  of  growth,  which  keeps  pace  with  the 
requirements  of  our  economic  life,  but  it  would  neglect  to 
show  the  student  the  machinery  by  which  law  is  made.  Some 
accounts  of  the  purpose  of  law,  the  distinctions  between 
public  and  private  law,  and  some  statements  of  the  courts 
which  enforce  it  ought  to  be  given  to  the  class :  phases  of 
the  subject  included  in  a  course  on  elementary  law. 

This  phase  of  the  subject  is  presented  in  all  text-books  in 
commercial  law,  but  unfortunately  the  attempt  to  crowd 
too  much  matter  in  a  few  pages  makes  the  chapter  dealing 
with  this  topic  dry  and  unattractive.  There  is  nothing  more 
calculated  to  deaden  interest  in  a  subject  than  a  large  number 


Commercial  Law  317 

of  definitions  at  the  outset  of  the  study.  The  introductory 
lesson  in  the  subject  should  be  more  interesting  and  more 
alive  than  any  other  lesson,  because  it  so  often  determines 
the  right  attitude  of  the  mind  of  the  learner. 

The  teacher  must  therefore  lead  up  to  the  subject  of  com- 
mercial law,  its  meaning,  and  its  problems,  by  a  series  of 
illustrations  which  show  the  way  in  which  disputes  and  claims 
arise.  Instead  of  beginning  with  a  definition  of  law,  let  him 
begin  with  practical  illustrations  of  duties  of  the  individual 
to  the  state,  as  determined  by  public  law,  and  duties  of  in- 
dividuals to  each  other,  as  determined  by  private  law.  Now 
there  are  certain  duties  which  individuals  voluntarily  assume, 
but  which  nevertheless  become  legal  obligations  that  they 
cannot  disregard  without  a  penalty.  These  obligations  are 
known  as  contracts.  When  we  speak  of  freedom  of  contract, 
we  mean  that  a  person  is  perfectly  free  to  enter  into  any  legal 
contract  he  pleases,  but  once  he  has  made  his  choice,  he  is 
no  longer  free,  but  must  abide  by  the  consequences  of  his 
choice.  Questions  of  law  arise  when  parties  disagree  as  to 
the  extent  of  their  mutual  obligations,  and  then  one  of  the 
parties  applies  to  the  arbitrator  —  the  court  —  to  decide  the 
difference  in  his  favor,  setting  before  the  court  his  side  of  the 
case,  and  supporting  his  allegations  by  evidence  of  facts. 

No  better  view  of  the  need  of  law  can  be  given  to  students 
than  by  beginning  with  the  formation  of  an  actual  contract  in 
everyday  business,  and  tracing  the  conditions  which  might 
arise  that  would  lead  to  dispute.  The  important  point  to 
be  borne  in  mind  in  the  presentation  is  the  fact  that  the 
need  for  law,  and  the  divisions  of  the  law,  should  be  developed 
from  actual  facts,  and  not  presented  in  an  abstract  form. 

The  preceding  paragraphs  imply  that  a  certain  amount  of 
procedure  should  be  included.     But  how  much  of  it?    Is  it 


3i8     Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

necessary  for  the  student  to  learn  the  steps  in  the  prosecution 
of  the  case  from  the  service  of  the  summons  to  judgment  and 
levy  of  execution?  Certainly  not,  and  most  decidedly  not 
at  the  beginning  of  the  course.  It  has  been  pointed  out  that 
the  study  of  commercial  law  is  not  intended  to  enable  a  busi- 
ness man  to  try  his  own  case.  Nevertheless,  one  phase  of 
procedure  a  student  must  know,  for  historical  and  cultural 
reasons,  and  that  is  how  a  legal  principle  is  established.  This 
necessitates  a  certain  mention  of  our  appellate  tribunals. 

It  should  be  pointed  out,  by  means  of  concrete  examples, 
how  a  dispute  in  connection  with  a  certain  contract,  which 
involves  a  certain  state  of  facts,  is  presented  to  the  courts  for 
decision  and  how  an  appeal  to  the  higher  court  is  taken  by 
the  defeated  party.  In  this  appeal  the  latter  challenges  the 
correctness  of  the  interpretation  of  the  law  by  the  lower  court, 
and  the  decision  of  the  higher  court  lays  down  a  precedent, 
which  succeeding  judges  are  practically  bound  to  follow,  and 
which  they  modify  only  when  circumstances  and  conditions 
in  industrial  life  have  so  changed  as  to  make  the  old  precedent 
inapplicable.  This  body  of  precedent,  it  should  be  pointed 
out,  constitutes  the  common  law.  The  students  should  be 
shown  how  it  is  important  to  have  uniform  rules  which  the 
judge  is  bound  to  respect  rather  than  leave  every  case  to  his 
discretion.  The  advantage  of  the  common  law  in  giving 
us  rules  which  are  both  uniform  and  elastic  may  be  shown, 
and  the  transition  to  statute  law  made  by  concrete  examples. 
Thus,  a  certain  decision  of  the  courts  may  lay  down  a  rule 
that  seems  unwise  to  the  people.  In  that  case,  they  have 
the  power  within  limits,  through  their  legislative  bodies,  to 
change  the  rule.  The  abrogation  of  the  fellow-servant  rule 
in  negligence  cases  —  a  rule  that  entered  in  campaigns  for 
the  recall  of  judicial  decisions  —  is  an  illustration  of  how  public 


Commercial  Law  319 

opinion  led  to  legislative  action  after  the  courts  had  repeat- 
edly refused  to  change  the  rule  or  precedent. 

Thus  we  lead  the  student  to  reaHze  the  relation  between 
the  common  law  and  the  statute  law,  and  to  note  the  fact 
that  the  large  bulk  of  our  law  was  worked  out  in  the  decisions 
by  the  courts  of  actual  cases  which  established  precedents  for 
succeeding  cases.  We  show  him  how  statute  law  has  followed 
common  law,  to  correct  and  supplement  it,  not  to  displace  it. 

The  lengthy  discussion  above  was  necessary,  first,  in  order 
to  show  the  teacher  how  to  impress  upon  the  student  the  way 
in  which  law  grows ;  secondly,  in  order  to  show  the  teacher 
how  to  lead  up  to  definitions  or  distinctions  such  as  between 
common  law  and  statute  law ;  and  thirdly,  to  show  how  the 
student  is  to  be  introduced  to  an  understanding  of  the  func- 
tion of  our  courts.  One  more  point  to  be  noted  carefully 
by  the  teacher  is  that  the  definition  should  be  developed  by 
means  of  examples,  and  not  stated  in  dogmatic  form.  Nor 
should  the  preHminary  topics  be  presented  entirely  in  lecture 
form.  A  certain  amount  of  appeal  by  means  of  questions  to 
the  experience  of  the  student  will  insure  his  attention  and  his 
participation  in  the  work,  and  will  keep  the  teacher  from 
going  beyond  the  student's  depth. 

To  sum  up :  the  preHminary  lesson  should,  by  means  of 
practical  examples,  bring  out  the  purpose  of  commercial  law, 
the  function  of  our  courts  (without  any  account  of  technical 
procedure),  the  function  of  the  appellate  courts,  the  estab- 
lishment of  a  precedent,  the  change  of  a  precedent,  and  the 
distinction  between  common  and  statute  law.  Other  matters 
in  connection  with  remedies,  such  as  the  distinction  between 
courts  of  law  and  courts  of  equity,  the  meaning  of  such  terms 
as  judgment,  execution,  etc.,  had  better  be  explained  as  the 
need  arises  in  connection  with  later  topics. 


320    Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

METHODS   OF   TEACHING 

What  has  been  said  before  will  sufficiently  bring  out  the 
fact  that  we  do  not  incline  to  any  lecture  method  or  to  such 
a  use  of  the  text-book  as  will  make  the  recitation  a  matter  of 
memorizing  unintelHgible  rules.  The  discussion  of  the  prev- 
alent methods  in  the  professional  law  schools  will  throw 
some  light  upon  methods  of  teaching  in  the  secondary 
schools,  and  we  shall  therefore  discuss  the  relative  merits 
of  the  text-book  and  the  case  methods,  in  order  to  draw  some 
conclusions  regarding  methods  in  commercial  law. 

Text-book  Method.  —  No  law  school  to-day  uses  the  lec- 
ture method,  because  the  teacher  reahzes  that  a  knowledge 
of  principles  is  to  be  derived  only  by  discussion  and  applica- 
tion of  them  to  numerous  cases.  The  text-book,  the  basis 
of  the  method  used  in  many  law  schools,  presents  a  digest  of 
principles  or  rules  deduced  by  the  author  from  the  decision 
of  the  different  courts.  References  to  these  decisions  accom- 
pany the  text,  and  the  students  are  expected  to  look  up  many 
of  these  references,  in  order  to  see  the  source  of  the  law  in  the 
particular  case  from  which  it  was  obtained.  This  method 
may  be  said  to  be  the  method  of  deduction.  It  presents  the 
rule  ready  made,  but  gives  it  justification  by  illustration. 
IntelUgent  users  of  this  method  also  give  the  students  abun- 
dant practice  in  the  appUcation  of  the  rule  to  problems,  thus 
furnishing  both  the  necessary  drill  and  material  for  the  dis- 
cussion that  is  so  important  in  developing  the  trained  legal 
mind. 

Case  Method.  —  Within  the  past  quarter  of  a  century, 
under  the  stimulus  of  the  example  of  the  late  Dean  Lang- 
dell  of  Harvard,  teachers  of  law  schools  have  adopted  the 
Case  Method.     This  is  the  inductive  or  development  method 


Commercial  Law  321 

applied  to  the  teaching  of  law.  A  series  of  cases  in  full,  con- 
taining both  the  facts  and  the  decision  of  the  court,  are  pre- 
sented to  the  student.  These  cases  are  so  graded  in  their 
sequence,  as  to  develop  the  principles  of  a  particular  sub- 
ject, like  contracts,  in  a  logical  sequence.  From  a  perusal 
of  the  case  the  student  draws  the  particular  rule  of  law  that 
is  established  by  the  decision.  In  spite  of  certain  disadvan- 
tages which  will  be  noted,  this  method  marks  a  rational 
advance  in  methods  of  teaching.  Its  advantages  may  be 
summarized  as  follows :  (i)  It  is  inductive.  Instead  of 
beginning  with  an  abstract  principle  of  law,  which  has  to  be 
made  intelhgible  by  examples,  it  leads  up  to  the  rule  from 
a  particular  state  of  facts.  (2)  It  gives  the  student  a  reah- 
zation  of  the  growth  and  development  of  legal  principles  by 
confronting  him  with  situations  which  led  to  the  estabHshment 
of  these  principles.  This  is  due  to  the  inductive  sequence 
which  it  follows.  In  several  of  the  Harvard  case  books,  the 
cases  are  presented  in  historical  order,  so  that  the  student 
sees  the  evolution  of  a  particular  rule  of  law.  (3)  It  adds 
interest  to  the  study  of  law  by  furnishing  a  common  basis 
for  discussion.  The  facts  and  the  decision  of  the  case  are  be- 
fore every  student,  and  discussion  of  various  phases  of  it 
is  thus  facilitated.  (4)  The  case  method  is  in  Hne  with  the 
improvement  of  professional  instruction  in  other  fields.  This 
improvement  consists  in  the  combination  of  laboratory 
methods  with  the  theoretic  instruction.  The  introduction 
of  the  university  school  marked  a  great  advance  in  the 
training  of  the  professional  man,  who  formerly  prepared  by 
a  purely  empirical  method.  Thus  the  candidate  in  medicine 
used  to  assist  the  physician,  and  by  the  apprentice  method 
pick  up  both  his  theoretic  and  practical  knowledge.  The 
law  student  "  read  law  "  in  the  office  of  a  lawyer,  where,  it 


322     Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

is  true,  he  became  familiar  with  the  legal  procedure,  but 
where  his  theoretical  training  was  rather  desultory,  owing 
to  self-directed  and  misdirected  effort. 

The  university  school  changed  this  by  providing  systematic 
instruction  and  preparing  the  student  to  apply  his  knowledge, 
after  graduation,  to  the  practical  requirements  of  his  profes- 
sion. The  next  advance  came  when  it  was  realized  that 
theory  and  practice  ought  to  go  hand  in  hand,  and  that  prac- 
tical training  in  the  application  of  principles  should  be  given 
to  the  student,  so  as  to  make  him  efficient  by  developing  his 
judgment  and  skill.  Thus  was  introduced  the  clinic  in  med- 
ical instruction  and  the  case  in  law  instruction.  In  spite 
of  certain  disadvantages,  which  are  not  at  all  insuperable, 
the  case  method  has  come  to  stay. 

What  are  these  disadvantages?  (i)  Not  enough  ground  is 
covered.  There  are  too  many  ramifications  of  a  particular 
subject,  Hke  contracts,  and  unless  we  make  the  case  book  of 
a  prohibitive  size,  it  is  impossible  to  cover  every  subdivision 
by  means  of  a  case.  The  advocates  of  the  text-book  claim  the 
advantage  here,  because  of  their  abiHty  to  cover  the  ground 
completely.  In  reply  to  this  objection  it  may  be  said  that 
the  object  of  the  instruction  is  not  to  cram  the  student  full  of 
law,  but  to  teach  him  how  to  reason  upon  the  law,  and  how 
to  search  for  it,  when  he  needs  it.  The  finding  of  the  leading 
principles  by  means  of  a  comparatively  small  number  of  cases 
is  sufficient  to  accomplish  this  purpose. 

(2)  The  method  is  too  difficult.  The  language  of  the  deci- 
sion, especially  in  the  older  cases,  may  offer  obstacles  to 
students.  This  objection  is  only  valid  for  students  of  sec- 
ondary school  age.  Professional  students  should  be  trained 
how  to  meet  difficulties  of  this  sort. 

(3)  The  decision  in  the  case  may  include  several  questions 


Commercial  Law  323 

which  are  not  relevant  at  that  particular  time  to  the  principle 
under  investigation.  This  objection  may  be  met  by  arranging 
the  case  so  as  to  ehminate  phases  not  germane  to  the  topic. 
But  even  if  the  case  is  presented  as  a  whole,  the  intelhgence  of 
the  student  should  be  trained  to  make  the  proper  selection. 

In  conclusion,  it  must  be  said  that  all  pedagogic  argu- 
ments are  in  favor  of  the  case  method,  and  particularly  of  a 
modification  of  it,  by  an  improvement  on  the  ordinary  case 
book.  This  is  the  presentation  of  some  of  the  cases  in  full, 
and  the  addition  of  other  cases  as  problems,  by  the  statement 
of  the  facts  alone.  This  gives  the  necessary  supplementary 
drill  and  training  in  judgment,  and  stimulates  the  student's 
power  of  initiative. 

Application  to  Secondary  School  Teaching.  —  How,  under 
conditions  as  they  confront  us,  can  we  secure  the  advantages 
of  the  case  method  in  secondary  school  teaching?  The  full 
benefits  can  be  obtained  only  by  a  method  of  condensed  cases. 
Evidently  the  hmited  time  devoted  to  the  subject  will  not 
permit  a  study  of  complete  cases.  Moreover,  such  a  study 
would  be  practically  impossible,  because  of  the  technicaHties 
and  matters  of  legal  procedure  that  are  so  often  connected 
with  the  statement  of  facts  and  the  decision.  It  is  possible, 
on  the  essential  topics,  such  as  contracts,  sales,  and  negotiable 
instruments,  to  present  a  series  of  condensed  cases,  in  which 
the  facts  could  be  stated  briefly,  and  the  saHent  points  in 
the  decision  given  in  the  language  of  the  court.  In  fact,  the 
authors  of  this  work  have  such  a  case  book  in  manuscript.  A 
recent  work  on  commercial  law  for  secondary  schools  prom- 
ised the  presentation  of  actual  cases  to  the  student.  When 
it  was  examined,  it  was  found  to  be  something  entirely  dif- 
ferent. The  author  of  the  work  had  summarized  the  prin- 
ciples, and  then  presented  a  series  of  problem  cases  of  a 


324    Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

difficult  nature,  citing  the  name  of  the  case  and  the  volume 
and  page  where  it  was  to  be  found.  Now  there  was  very  Uttle 
in  the  text  itself  to  help  the  student  or  the  teacher  to  solve 
the  problem.  The  book  was  another  illustration  of  the  faulty 
form  of  the  deductive  method  which  thrusts  abstract  rules 
at  the  students,  and  expects  that  this  alone  will  make  them 
proficient  in  the  appHcation  of  these  rules. 

In  view  of  the  fact  that  a  desirable  case  book  for  second- 
ary schools  has  not  yet  been  pubUshed,  we  must  ask  how  we 
can  secure  some  of  the  benefits  of  the  case  method  or  the  in- 
ductive method  with  the  text-books  we  have. 

In  order  to  answer  this  question,  we  shall  have  to  consider 
the  subject  of  special  methods  in  commercial  law. 

Special  Methods.  —  Sufficient  has  been  said  to  show  that 
the  proper  way  to  begin  a  topic  Hke  contracts  or  agency  is 
not  to  give  a  definition.  A  student  ought  to  be  made  to 
reahze  the  way  in  which  the  topic  presented  arose  out  of  the 
conditions  of  modern  business.  The  first  phase,  then,  of 
every  new  topic  is  to  show  its  correlation  with  business 
practice,  and  to  bring  out  the  way  in  which  it  serves  to  satisfy 
a  certain  need.  As  an  illustration,  we  may  take  the  subject 
of  Agency.  The  teacher  does  not  begin  with  a  definition  of 
agency,  but  presents  the  conditions  of  modern  business 
under  which  it  is  impossible  for  a  person  to  attend  to  all  the 
details  of  his  work  himself.  The  student  is  made  to  realize 
the  necessity  under  which  the  business  man  delegates  at 
times  both  matters  involving  discretion  and  matters  involving 
mere  routine.  This  at  once  suggests  the  question  to  whom  a 
man  may  delegate  his  work,  what  the  powers  of  this  agent  are, 
and  what  his  legal  rights  and  liabiUties  are.  Thus  the  way  is 
opened  for  an  outline  of  the  entire  subject  in  its  correlation 
with  business  itself. 


Commercial  Law  325 

The  second  step  is  the  presentation  of  the  first  legal  phase 
of  the  particular  topic.  In  the  subject  of  agency,  it  is  neces- 
sarily the  question  how  the  power  of  the  agent  is  conferred 
upon  him,  and  what  conditions  may  arise  which  will  entitle  a 
man,  by  implication,  to  be  considered  an  agent,  even  without 
express  authority.  An  obvious  way  to  handle  this  topic  is 
to  give  a  summary  of  the  various  ways  in  which  the  power  of 
agency  is  conferred,  and  then  ask  the  student  to  apply  the 
principles  learned  to  problems.  This  is  the  path  of  least 
resistance,  but  it  is  undoubtedly  not  the  best  way.  A  series 
of  situations  should  be  presented  to  the  student  in  which  the 
question  of  whether  a  person  really  has  the  power  to  act  arises. 
Students  may  be  asked  to  give  their  reasons,  and  compare  their 
answers  with  the  rule  of  law,  which  the  teacher  will  state  to 
them.  In  many  cases  the  answers  will  coincide  with  the  actual 
law.  This  is  not  strange,  because  in  spite  of  their  many  tech- 
nicalities, legal  decisions  as  a  general  rule  are  organized  com- 
mon sense.  If  a  condensed  case  book  is  available,  the  student 
will  be  able  to  peruse  the  problem  and  its  solution  and  see  the 
law  as  it  is  developed  by  the  court,  from  a  given  state  of  facts. 
In  such  a  case,  the  condensed  cases  would  be  assigned  prepar- 
atory to  the  discussion  in  the  class.  If  a  text-book  is  used, 
however,  the  exposition  in  the  text-book  should  be  assigned 
as  a  lesson  supplementary  to  the  discussion  in  the  class 
room. 

The  third  step  is  this :  the  student  states  underl5dng  rules 
which  have  been  established  by  the  court,  and  he  discusses 
the  reasonableness  of  the  rule.  A  teacher  should  not  hesitate 
to  allow  a  student  to  criticise  the  judicial  decision,  where  he 
seems  to  think  that  it  is  not  founded  upon  good  reason.  The 
danger  that  students  will  develop  a  contempt  for  the  judgment 
of  the  court  is  negligible.     There  is  nothing  that  will  sharpen 


326     Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

their  power  of  discrimination  and  their  respect  for  the  common 
law  more  than  the  discussion  of  the  reasons  which  actuated 
the  judges  in  their  decision.  In  the  vast  majority  of  cases 
they  will  find  that  the  rule  is  reasonable,  and  that  it  works 
substantial  justice. 

As  2i fourth  consideration  :  the  rule  of  law  itself  is  of  no  value, 
except  in  so  far  as  it  is  applicable  in  the  solution  of  actual 
problems.  The  lawyer  does  not  study  the  principles  of  law 
for  their  own  sake,  but  because  he  needs  those  principles  to 
meet  all  the  intricate  situations  that  arise,  upon  which  he  is 
consulted.  A  person  may  know  all  the  rules  of  law  and  yet 
make  a  poor  lawyer  because  his  power  of  discrimination  — 
his  ability  to  see  that  a  certain  state  of  facts  is  to  be  decided 
by  a  particular  rule  —  has  not  been  developed.  He  knows 
the  rule,  but  he  does  not  know  that  it  fits  a  given  set  of  cir- 
cumstances. This  ability  can  be  developed  only  by  constant 
practice  in  the  solution  of  legal  problems. 

One  mistake,  however,  is  commonly  made  in  connection 
with  this  drill.  In  a  subject  like  negotiable  instruments,  for 
example,  writers  of  elementary  text-books  will  present  all  the 
rules  on  a  given  subject,  with  a  few  illustrative  cases,  before 
they  give  any  drill  problems.  This  is  a  serious  mistake. 
Each  lesson  should  include  numerous  drill  problems.  For 
example,  after  the  formal  requisites  of  negotiable  instruments 
have  been  considered,  the  student  should  be  given  numerous 
cases  in  which  the  question  of  whether  or  not  these  formal 
requisites  have  been  complied  with  is  the  point  at  issue.  To 
provide  material  for  this  purpose,  the  teacher  will  have  to 
present  mimeographed  problems  to  the  student.  To  read  off 
the  problems  from  a  book  and  make  the  pupils  give  the  solu- 
tion is  too  much  of  a  strain  on  the  attention  of  most  of  them. 
All  the  members  of  the  class  ought  to  have  the  particular 


Commercial  Law  327 

problem  before  them  so  as  to  be  able  to  give  a  decision,  after 
a  couple  of  moments'  thoughtful  consideration  of  the  ques- 
tion. 

In  connection  with  effective  drill,  the  reader  is  again  advised 
to  consider  the  effective  results  obtained  from  using  Socratic 
questioning  at  this  stage  of  the  lesson.  To  illustrate :  the 
student  reads  over  the  facts  of  a  case,  which  we  might  call  the 
hypothesis  (using  the  analogy  of  geometry),  and  he  gives  the 
decision  that  is  applicable  to  this  state  of  facts.  But  it  may 
be  that  certain  distinctions  have  escaped  him  in  his  reading 
of  the  facts,  which  differentiates  this  case  from  the  one  with 
which  he  is  familiar.  His  answer  is  therefore  wrong.  If  the 
teacher  merely  corrects  him  without  any  comment,  he  loses 
a  valuable  opportunity  to  train  the  student  in  accuracy  of 
judgment.  He  should  lead  him  to  discover  his  own  error  by 
Socratic  questions  which  bring  out  the  fact  that  the  student 
has  not  properly  read  his  question.  The  lesson  which  he  learns 
by  this  questioning  will  lead  him  not  to  make  snap  judg- 
ments, and  to  weigh  his  answer  carefully  before  he  gives  it. 

For  3,  fifth  consideration  another  useful  exercise  in  the  appli- 
cation stage  of  the  lesson  is  to  vary  the  hypothesis,  or  the 
state  of  facts,  and  to  let  the  student  realize  the  change  in  the 
decision  which  such  a  change  in  the  hypothesis  produces. 
Thus,  in  connection  with  the  subject  of  Guaranty,  assume  that 
A  guarantees  orally  that  he  will  pay  B's  debt  to  C,  if  B  does 
not  pay.  The  students  see  that  this  guaranty  cannot  be 
enforced,  because  it  is  not  in  writing.  The  case  is  then  changed 
by  having  A  tell  C  to  extend  credit  to  B  and  he  will  be  re- 
sponsible for  it.  This  case  calls  attention  to  the  fact  that  A 
binds  himself  primarily  to  C  by  his  agreement,  and  as  this  is 
not  a  guaranty  in  the  real  sense  of  the  word,  the  oral  contract 
is  effective.     By  thus  changing  the  state  of  facts  in  the  case, 


328     Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

we  impress  upon  the  student  a  better  understanding  of  the 
meaning  and  the  appHcation  of  certain  principles. 

In  the  sixth  place,  concrete  methods  should  be  used  wher- 
ever possible.  In  all  we  have  said  about  methods  in  com- 
mercial law  we  have  emphasized  the  importance  of  avoiding 
an  abstract  presentation,  and  of  making  a  student  see  the 
relation  between  law  and  actual  business.  It  is  this  motive 
which  leads  us  to  include  business  and  legal  documents  in  our 
course.  Is  it  necessary  for  the  student  to  understand  legal 
forms  ?  is  the  question  that  is  often  asked.  Not  such  as  in- 
volve mere  legal  procedure,  such  as  the  summons  or  complaint. 
Nevertheless,  every  good  text-book  reproduces  in  facsimile 
such  legal  forms  as  contracts,  negotiable  instruments,  powers 
of  attorney,  bills  of  sale,  deeds,  etc.  The  purpose  of  this 
presentation  ought  to  be  not  so  much  to  teach  the  student 
how  to  make  out  these  documents  himself,  as  to  give  him  con- 
crete illustrations  of  the  applications  of  the  principles.  In 
some  cases,  it  is  true  that  it  would  be  a  valuable  exercise  for 
the  student  to  draw  up  certain  documents,  like  contracts  or 
articles  of  copartnership.  The  purpose  of  this  exercise 
would  be  to  test  the  student's  knowledge  of  the  essentials  that 
are  necessary  in  such  documents.  A  still  more  valuable  exer- 
cise would  be  the  criticism  of  some  of  the  documents  drawn 
up  by  the  students,  in  order,  with  the  aid  of  the  class,  to  dis- 
cover the  respects  in  which  these  forms  are  deficient,  and  in 
which  they  reveal  legal  flaws.  The  thing  for  the  teacher  to 
bear  in  mind  is  that  it  will  not  be  necessary  for  the  student  to 
use  the  exact  verbiage  of  formal  legal  documents.  To  com- 
pel him  to  do  so  will  be  to  burden  his  memory  unnecessarily, 
and,  as  a  general  rule,  the  hallowed  legal  phraseology  is,  in 
most  cases,  unnecessary  to  the  legality  of  a  document. 

Another  way  in  which  legal  forms  may  be  of  value  is  to 


Commercial  Law  329 

give  the  student  the  opportunity  to  fill  out  blanks  that  are 
furnished  to  him.  Most  legal  forms  may  be  bought  at  the 
stationer's,  so  that  the  task  of  the  lawyer  is  confined  to  the 
mere  filling  out  of  the  blanks.  Work  of  this  sort  may  be  very 
useful  to  the  student  in  sharpening  his  knowledge  of  the 
essentials  required  in  certain  documents.  In  this  connection, 
the  teacher  may  cooperate  with  the  department  of  typewrit- 
ing, so  that  students  may  fill  out  their  blanks  in  typewriting, 
using  data  to  suit  themselves. 

Additional  Notes  on  Method.  —  i.  The  Selection  of  Cases. 
We  have  already  said  that  the  teacher  should  not  wait  until 
he  has  presented  all  the  principles  of  a  certain  subject  before 
he  gives  applied  problems.  And  we  have  also  said  that  the 
teacher  should  have  a  sufficient  number  of  mimeographed 
problems  selected  from  the  abundance  of  material  found  in 
different  text-books  to  present  to  the  student  in  connection 
with  the  drill  work.  When  a  subject  like  contracts  is  com- 
pleted, then  it  is  appropriate  for  the  teacher  to  give  miscel- 
laneous cases  on  the  subject,  so  as  to  bring  the  various  subdi- 
visions of  it  in  review  in  the  student's  mind.  There  are 
certain  additional  remarks  on  the  selection  of  the  problem 
cases  and  the  proper  use  of  them  that  may  be  of  value  to 
the  teacher. 

(a)  They  should  be  graded  in  difficulty.  It  is  unfair  to 
expect  students  to  wrestle  with  some  of  the  refined  distinc- 
tions that  have  engaged  the  attention  of  courts,  unless  their 
minds  have  been  properly  prepared  for  the  work  by  judicious 
drill  upon  easier  cases. 

(b)  On  the  other  hand,  the  problem  cases  to  be  selected  are 
to  be  such  as  to  require  some  points  of  reflection  so  as  to  make 
the  student  feel  that  the  solution  represents  a  definite  advance 
in  his  knowledge  of  law.     Evidently  leading  questions,  that  is. 


330     Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

those  which  suggest  the  answer,  are  to  be  avoided,  as  they  are 
not  conducive  of  reflection. 

(c)  The  teacher  should  never  accept  the  answer  "  yes  " 
or  "  no  "  without  an  intelhgent  reason  for  the  answer.  Any 
other  attitude  will  only  be  conducive  of  guesswork.  Even  if 
a  student  has  given  a  wrong  decision,  if  his  answer  is  based 
upon  fair  reasoning,  he  should  be  given  at  least  a  passing  mark. 
It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  say  that  such  cases  are  to  be  pre- 
ferred as  contain  points  that  lend  themselves  to  discussion, 
or  to  the  taking  of  opposite  sides  of  the  question.  The  great 
majority  of  cases  are  of  this  sort.  Sometimes,  however,  there 
are  cases  where  all  the  right  is  obviously  on  one  side.  These 
have  their  place  in  the  course,  but  they  are  evidently  not  so 
valuable  for  training  the  student  in  making  acute  discrimi- 
nations as  those  in  which  the  issues  are  fairly  evenly  balanced. 

{d)  Except  in  connection  with  miscellaneous  review,  cases 
presented,  as  a  rule,  should  not  contain  more  than  one  diffi- 
culty or  aspect  of  the  law.  A  case,  for  example,  may  contain 
elements  of  agency,  corporation,  technical  procedure,  and 
possibly  other  steps.  To  give  such  a  case,  in  connection  with 
the  preparatory  subjects  of  a  pupil's  work  on  a  particular 
topic  like  agency,  is  to  tend  to  confuse  his  mind.  The  peda- 
gogical principle  of  one  difficulty  at  a  time  ought  to  be  borne 
in  mind.  In  review  cases,  it  may  be  well  frequently  to  present 
cases  that  may  be  approached  from  several  angles,  and  it  is  a 
distinct  advantage  to  be  able  to  do  so  at  times. 

{e)  It  goes  without  saying  that  the  facts  of  the  problem 
cases  should  be  stated  clearly  and  without  any  omission  of 
essential  facts.  Writers  of  elementary  text-books  who  are 
compelled  to  save  space,  owing  to  the  necessity  of  compressing 
so  many  topics  in  a  small  volume,  frequently  state  the  prob- 
lem, and  omit  essential  facts.     This  is  hardly  wise,  as  a  rule. 


Commercial  Law  331 

Sometimes  it  is  permissible  to  present  a  case  in  that  brief 
form  so  as  to  compel  the  student  to  answer  the  question  by- 
supplying  hypothetical  facts  which  the  author  of  the  problem 
has  omitted.  But  such  cases  should  not  be  given  on  examina- 
tions. To  illustrate  this  point,  the  teacher  may  present  to 
the  class  a  case  in  which  a  person  has  sold  orally  sixty  dollars' 
worth  of  goods  to  another  person,  and  ask  them  whether  the 
contract  can  be  enforced.  The  statement  of  facts  is  incom- 
plete because  the  obvious  answer  of  the  student  that  the  sale 
cannot  be  enforced  under  the  Statute  of  Frauds  depends 
upon  whether  the  alternatives  to  a  written  memorandum, 
namely,  part  payment  or  delivery  and  acceptance,  were 
applied. 

(/)  An  attempt  should  be  made  by  the  teacher  not  only  to 
stimulate  the  judgment  and  reason  of  the  students,  but  to 
arouse  their  imagination  in  connection  with  the  cases.  It 
may  seem  strange  to  say  that  their  imagination  should  be 
appealed  to  in  connection  with  law,  because  it  may  be  said  that 
cold  hard  facts  and  reasons  are  used,  not  imagination.  But 
the  purpose  of  stimulating  the  imagination  is  not  to  lead  the 
students  to  do  any  guessing,  but  to  make  them  see  the  reality 
of  the  work  they  are  doing,  and  its  relation  to  everyday  business 
life.  For  this  reason,  the  facts  in  the  case  should  be  such  as 
actually  occur  in  daily  life. 

Examiners  and  writers  of  problems  are  in  the  habit  of  using 
A  and  B  as  the  names  of  the  parties.  This  may  be  very  con- 
venient and  safe  at  times,  but  it  does  not  tend  to  make  the 
case  real  to  the  student.  As  far  as  possible,  the  real  names  of 
persons  and  places  should  be  used.  Occasionally  it  is  true 
that  the  use  of  letters  A,  B,  and  C  is  helpful  in  the  apprehension 
of  the  facts  of  a  case.  Thus  if  three  parties  are  involved  in  a 
negotiable  instrument,  A  as  the  maker,  B  as  the  payee,  and 


332     Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

C  as  the  indorser,  the  use  of  these  letters  is  certainly  helpful 
in  the  apprehension  of  the  facts  of  a  case.  It  might  therefore 
be  advisable  not  to  be  too  dogmatic  in  the  matter  of  requiring 
real  names  to  be  used  in  all  cases.  A  discussion  of  the  facts 
of  the  case  with  reference  not  merely  to  the  legal  principles 
involved,  but  with  reference  to  aspects  of  business  procedure 
and  business  ethics,  is  very  valuable.  This  discussion  brings 
consciously  to  the  mind  of  the  student,  matters  of  business 
ethics,  points  of  attack  he  should  guard  against,  and  methods 
he  should  adopt  in  order  to  safeguard  his  rights.  The  teacher 
should  therefore  not  fail  to  draw  lessons  for  practical  conduct 
wherever  it  is  possible  to  do  so,  points  which  not  only  deal 
with  business  and  personal  ethics,  but  points  which  develop 
a  right  attitude  of  mind  toward  our  institutions. 

2.  Reviews  and  Examinations.  —  No  matter  how  well  a 
subject  is  presented,  the  review  cannot  be  dispensed  with.  A 
student  who  has  completed  his  negotiable  instruments  six 
months  before  may  find  that  many  of  the  details  of  this  tech- 
nical branch  of  commercial  law  are  only  faintly  in  his  mind. 
It  is  true  that  the  cases  on  one  topic  frequently  are  interrelated 
with  phases  of  another  topic.  But  to  rely  upon  such  an  acci- 
dental review  is  rather  hazardous.  It  is  possible  to  provide 
some  form  of  continuous  review  throughout  the  course.  For 
example,  after  we  have  completed  sales  of  personal  property, 
we  give  a  miscellaneous  review  of  all  phases  of  the  subject, 
presenting  cases  not  in  the  order  in  which  the  topics  were 
developed  in  the  text,  but  in  an  irregular  order.  The  presen- 
tation of  the  problems  in  the  miscellaneous  review  in  the  order 
in  which  the  topics  occur  in  the  text  may  suggest  to  the  student 
the  exact  place  where  he  is  to  find  the  solution  of  the  difficulty ; 
and  in  a  review  we  want  to  take  away  a  crutch  of  this  sort. 
In  addition  to  the  miscellaneous  review  on  sales,  a  number  of 


Commercial  Law  333 

review  problems  on  contracts  may  be  given,  thus  keeping  some 
of  the  distinctive  principles  of  contracts  before  the  students. 
In  the  same  way,  perhaps,  a  part  of  a  period  once  a  week 
should  be  devoted  to  a  miscellaneous  review  on  all  that  a  stu- 
dent has  had  on  the  subject  up  to  the  time.  This  review  may 
be  in  the  form  of  a  written  examination,  in  the  form  of  an  oral 
review,  or  in  the  form  of  home  work  assignment  to  be  brought 
in  in  writing. 

The  examination  is  a  valuable  thing  because  it  trains  the 
student  in  quickness  of  decision  and  in  bringing  all  the  re- 
sources at  his  command  to  bear  upon  the  solution  of  the 
problem  in  a  limited  time.  One  kind  of  an  examination  ques- 
tion should  be  very  sparingly  used ;  that  is,  the  definition. 
It  is  easy  to  cram  definitions,  but  impossible  to  cram  solutions 
to  problems.  Therefore,  if  the  examination  is  devoted 
exclusively  to  problem  cases,  the  charge  that  it  encourages 
cramming  is  entirely  avoided.  Again,  some  teachers  ask  the 
students  for  a  summary  of  rules  on  a  certain  question.  This 
is  very  inadvisable;  first,  because  it  encourages  cramming, 
and  secondly,  because  a  knowledge  of  a  set  of  rules  is  of 
practically  no  value  as  such.  The  important  point  is  that 
the  student  should  know  how  to  apply  a  rule. 

Many  lawyers  would  fail  in  an  examination  if  they  were 
required  to  formulate  sets  of  rules.  Such  a  test  would  be 
merely  one  of  memory.  Thus,  a  lawyer  might  be  asked  for 
exceptions  to  the  liability  of  common  carriers,  and  fail  to  an- 
swer the  question,  even  though  he  might  be  familiar  with  all 
the  exceptions,  —  the  reason  for  his  failure  being  that  for  the 
moment  the  points  do  not  come  to  him.  But  he  will  not  be 
phased  by  a  question  in  which  his  decision  on  a  given  state  of 
facts  is  required.  We  must  therefore  conclude  that  the  only 
fair  and  practical  examination  is  one  in  which  the  student  is 


334     Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

asked  to  give  decisions  and  reasons  in  a  set  of  problem  cases. 
Occasionally,  questions  of  principles  may  be  required,  but  they 
should  not  be  of  such  a  nature  as  to  require  him  to  enumerate 
five  or  six  exceptions  to  a  rule. 

3.  Research  Work.  —  As  we  are  not  training  students  to 
be  lawyers,  it  is  scarcely  necessary  to  offer  them  much  of  an 
opportunity  to  conduct  research  work  of  their  own  on  points 
or  problems  of  law.  They  are  so  occupied  with  their  various 
other  duties  that  time  scarcely  allows  this.  There  may, 
however,  be  a  few  exceptional  students  who  take  an  interest 
in  this  kind  of  work,  and  who  may  contemplate  entering  the 
profession  of  the  law.  Such  students  should  be  given  the 
opportunity  to  learn  something  about  how  to  get  at  the 
sources  of  the  law,  how  to  use  reference  books,  and  how  to 
discover  the  law  on  a  certain  subject,  when  one  requires  it. 
In  fact,  every  student  should  learn  how  he  must  proceed,  that 
is,  what  sources  he  must  try  to  get  at,  in  order  to  discover  the 
law  on  a  particular  point.  But  the  preparation  of  briefs  or 
special  reports  on  some  topic  may  be  confined  to  two  or  three 
of  the  exceptional  members  of  the  class.  The  topic  chosen 
for  investigation  should  be  one  on  which  authorities  have  dis- 
agreed. The  elementary  text-book  frequently  makes  mention 
of  the  fact  that  some  jurisdictions  hold  one  view  and  some 
another.  It  would  be  interesting  for  some  particularly 
bright  student  to  investigate  the  conflicting  authorities  on 
this  point,  and  to  summarize  the  arguments  in  favor  of  one 
decision  and  those  in  favor  of  the  opposite  decision.  If  the 
student  makes  a  report  of  his  research  to  the  class,  he  will 
vicariously,  so  to  speak,  bring  all  the  members  of  the  class  in 
touch  with  the  original  sources. 

4.  The  Teacher's  Library.  —  The  demands  upon  the  good 
teacher  of  commercial  law  who  really  carries  out  his  task 


Commercial  Law  335 

well  will  be  very  great.  It  would  be  beyond  the  demands  of 
human  reason  to  expect  him  to  be  proficient  in  all  the  branches 
of  a  subject.  But  he  should  be  in  a  position  to  have  access 
to  some  of  the  sources  of  the  law,  and  to  be  able  to  use  all 
those  aids  by  which  he  may  become  proficient  in  the  particu- 
lar topic  which  he  is  presenting  to  the  class.  It  is  not  too 
much  to  expect  that  the  teacher  has  prepared  his  lesson  so 
well,  that  even  though  he  is  not  a  lawyer  he  knows  as  much 
as  a  lawyer,  for  the  time  being,  at  least  so  far  as  this  particu- 
lar subject  is  concerned. 

Should  the  teacher  use  a  key  to  problems,  or  is  this  use  of 
the  key  unworthy  of  his  intelligence  ?  One  thing  is  true,  that 
he  should  not  use  the  key  in  the  presence  of  the  class.  On 
the  other  hand,  it  is  unreasonable  to  expect  him  to  have  an 
absolutely  perfect  knowledge  of  all  the  cases,  without  the  aid 
of  the  key ;  and  it  is  undesirable  that  he  should,  by  using  his 
unaided  judgment,  give  the  class  a  wrong  solution  of  the  prob- 
lem. The  use  of  the  key  is  therefore  not  at  all  reprehensible. 
But  of  course  its  use  should  be  confined  to  the  teacher. 

As  a  part  of  every  teacher's  equipment  there  should  be  a 
fair  professional  library.  This  should  include :  first,  a  series 
of  standard  texts  on  different  phases  of  the  law.  By  texts 
we  do  not  mean  elementary  books  for  secondary  schools,  but 
presentations  of  phases  of  the  law  by  authorities :  such  works 
as  Pollock  on  Contracts,  Huffcut  on  Agency,  Cook  on  Cor- 
porations. The  Hornbook  Series,  published  by  The  West 
PubHshing  Company,  of  St.  Paul,  are  a  set  of  authoritative 
texts  on  various  subjects,  which  have  the  distinction  of  being 
comparatively  brief,  and  of  singHng  out  the  essential  rules 
by  means  of  heavy  t}^e. 

Second.  A  series  of  case  books  on  different  subjects,  such 
as  WilHston  on   Contracts,  Ames  on  Bills  and  Notes,  and 


336     Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

other  case  books,  will  be  found  very  useful  to  the  teacher, 
because  he  will  thus  have  the  opportunity,  occasionally,  to 
read  to  the  students  authoritative  decisions  on  certain  points 
in  the  language  of  the  court.  The  students  will  thus  be 
brought  a  little  nearer  to  the  sources  of  the  law,  and  ambi- 
tious members  of  the  class  will  have  access  to  them  if  they 
desire. 

Third.  If  there  are  funds  available,  an  encyclopaedia  of  law 
would  be  useful.  But  as  between  an  encyclopaedia  on  the  one 
hand,  and  case  books  and  text-books  on  the  other,  we  should 
certainly  prefer  the  latter. 

Fourth.  A  collection  of  secondary  schoolbooks  will  be  useful 
to  the  teacher,  both  for  supplementary  review  cases  and  for 
possible  light  they  might  throw  upon  the  best  sequence  of 
the  presentation  of  topics. 

Fifth.  A  collection  of  the  statutes  of  the  state.  Thus,  in 
New  York  State,  the  volumes  comprising  the  Consolidated 
Laws  may  prove  very  useful.  There  are  two  subjects  on  which 
there  is  a  tendency  to  uniformity  in  the  different  states  in  the 
Union,  —  negotiable  instruments  and  sales.  The  uniform 
acts  of  both  these  subjects  should  be  a  part  of  the  reference 
library.  If  possible,  annotated  editions  of  these  statutes 
should  be  secured. 

Sixth.  After  all  that  is  said  about  the  importance  of  a  library, 
the  most  important  reference  library  to  the  teacher  is  the 
advice  of  some  lawyer,  who  is  both  able  and  willing  to  help 
the  teacher  with  advice  on  some  of  the  difficulties.  This 
source  of  aid  is  particularly  important  because  of  the  necessity 
of  adapting  the  principles  of  the  common  law,  as  presented  in 
the  text-book,  to  the  possible  modifications  which  it  has  under- 
gone in  the  particular  state  of  the  Union  in  which  the  school 
is  situated.     The  most  helpful  counsel  that  a  lawyer  can  give 


Commercial  Law  337 

to  a  teacher  corresponds  to  the  greatest  help  which  the  teacher 
can  give  to  his  pupil,  and  that  is,  to  show  him  how  to  help 
himself. 

OUTLINE    LESSONS    IN   COMMERCIAL   LAW 

I.   Outline  Lesson  on  the  Fourth  Section,  State  of  Frauds 

Preparation.  —  (i)  Introduction.  Common  law  requires  no 
contracts  to  be  in  writing. 

(2)  Motivation.  Difficulties  in  proving  contracts  by  means 
of  witnesses ;  danger  of  perjured  testimony  and  possibilities 
of  blackmail  in  certain  cases,  such  as  sales  of  real  estate  and 
promises  of  dowry  in  marriage  contracts. 

Presentation.  —  (i)  Passing  of  a  statute  by  parliament 
requiring  certain  contracts  to  be  in  writing,  signed  by  the 
party  to  be  bound,  in  order  to  hold  him  liable. 

(2)  Significance  of  term  "  Statute  of  Frauds  "  explained. 
(Statute  to  prevent  frauds  and  perjuries.) 

(3)  Relation  of  this  act  of  parliament  to  our  state  statutes. 
(Brief  historical  review  of  the  source  of  our  laws.) 

Exposition.  —  (i)  Summary  of  the  classes  of  contracts  as 
included  in  the  fourth  section  of  the  State  of  Frauds.  (Sev- 
enteenth section,  on  sales  of  personal  property,  left  for  another 
occasion.)  Reason  for  the  inclusion  of  each  class  by  illus- 
tration of  the  possibilities  of  fraud  and  perjury  connected 
with  each. 

(2)  Illustration  of  contracts  for  the  purchase  of  real  prop- 
erty, contracts  not  to  be  performed  within  one  year,  and  con- 
tracts in  consideration  of  marriage.  Illustrations  to  be  given 
principally  by  members  of  class.  Wrong  illustration  to  be 
corrected  by  Socratic  questioning. 

(3)  Further  analysis  of  the  terms  of  the  statute.  Illus- 
tration of  a  written  contract  between  A  and  B,  signed  by 


338    Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

A  alone,  held  by  B.  (B  can  hold  A,  but  A  cannot  hold  B.) 
Requirement  that  contract  must  be  signed  by  the  party  to  be 
bound.  Practical  application  of  this  requirement.  Both 
A  and  B  get  copies  of  the  contract;  A  signs  B's  copy  and  B 
signs  A's  copy. 

(4)  Formal  statement  of  the  terms  of  the  Statute  of  Frauds. 

Application.  —  Cases  involving  Statute  of  Frauds.  Re- 
marks on  cases  to  be  selected : 

(i)  Cases  involving  refined  distinctions  between  real  and 
personal  property  are  to  be  avoided.  The  cases  to  be  pre- 
sented are  to  impress  upon  the  mind  the  necessity  of  comply- 
ing with  the  Statute  of  Frauds. 

(2)  Cases  to  be  selected  are  to  contain  some  points  that 
require  a  little  reflection. 

Examples:  a.  A  written  contract  contains  no  signatures 
or  the  signature  of  the  party  that  is  suing.  Is  it  valid? 
(Question  not  to  be  presented  in  this  abstract  form.  Actual 
case  is  to  be  presented.)  Point  of  law  involved  in  the  case 
as  well  as  the  solution  should  be  formulated  by  student  himself. 

b.  A  written  contract  contains  the  signature  of  B  alone. 
Can  A  sue  on  it? 

(3)  Cases  to  be  selected  are  to  contain  points  that  lend 
themselves  to  discussion. 

Examples :  A  contract  is  not  signed  at  the  bottom,  but 
contains  the  signature  of  the  parties  on  top  of  the  instrument. 
Does  it  satisfy  the  requirements  of  the  statute? 

Discussion.  —  Teacher  sums  up  the  discussion  and  states 
the  side  the  courts  have  taken  in  their  decision.  (For  other 
remarks,  see  p.  329  seq.  Note  especially  what  is  said  on  the 
use  of  the  Socratic  method,  p.  327.) 

(4)  Cases  to  be  selected,  to  illustrate  that  oral  contracts 
under  the  Statute  of  Frauds  are  voidable,  not  void.     Fact 


Commercial  Law 


339 


brought  out  by  the  following  example :  A  sues  B  on  an  oral 
contract  for  the  sale  of  real  property.  No  defence.  Can  he 
recover?  Answer.  Yes,  if  B  does  not  take  advantage  of 
the  defence  of  the  Statute  of  Frauds.  Court  will  not  recog- 
nize it  otherwise.  Hence  reason  for  calling  contract  voidable, 
not  void. 

II.    Outline  Lesson  on  the  Distinction  between  Real  Property 
and  Personal  Property 

Preparation.  —  Motivation,  (i)  Importance  of  distinction. 
Student  should  be  made  to  realize  that  distinction  is  not  merely 
academic,  but  has  real  importance.  This  may  be  done  by 
presenting  case  of  an  oral  contract  for  sale  of  certain  property 
(like  fruit  trees),  and  showing  how  the  question  of  the  ability 
of  interested  party  to  enforce  contract  depends  upon  whether 
fruit  trees  are  real  property  or  personal  property. 

(2)  Other  instances  of  importance  of  distinction  are  men- 
tioned to  pupils,  a.  Realty  goes  to  heirs  of  a  decedent 
directly,  while  personalty  goes  to  the  executor  to  be  admin- 
istered by  him,  and  to  be  charged  with  the  payment  of  debts 
of  decedent,  h.  A  mortgage  on  a  house  is  foreclosed,  and  the 
house  is  sold  for  the  benefit  of  the  creditor.  Can  the  furnace 
in  the  house  be  sold  with  it  ?  Can  the  window  shades  or  the 
tools  used  in  connection  with  repairing  the  house  be  sold? 
Answer  depends  upon  whether  these  are  realty  or  personalty. 

Presentation.  —  (i)  Case  involving  contract  for  the  sale 
of  land  on  which  house  is  situated.  The  terms  of  the  contract 
do  not  mention  the  house.     Is  the  latter  included  ? 

(2)  Case  involving  sale  of  land  on  which  there  are  fences, 
stone  walls,  etc. 

Generalization.  —  Land  and  things  attached  to  the  land 
(fixtures)  are  real  property. 


340     Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

Application.  — (i)  Cases  involving  the  Statute  of  Frauds  in 
connection  with  the  relative  claims  of  executor  and  heirs,  the 
foreclosing  mortgagee  and  the  mortgagor,  and  dealing  with 
things  attached  to  the  land. 

(2)  Cases  showing  the  effect  of  tenant's  placing  fixtures  on 
property.  Formulation  of  rule  with  regard  to  tenant's  fixtures 
and  tenant's  trade  fixtures. 

Second  Presentation.  —  Cases  involving  land  sold,  on  which 
crops  are  growing. 

Second  Generalization.  —  Formulation  and  discussion  of  rule 
with  regard  to  question  whether  crops  are  realty  or  personalty. 

Second  Application.  —  (i)  Cases  involving  question  of 
validity  of  oral  sale  of  crops,  of  ownership  of  crops  as  between 
executor  and  administrator,  etc. 

(2)  Miscellaneous  cases  on  distinction  between  real  and 
personal  property  involving  cases  on  fixtures,  on  crops,  and 
other  cases  not  discussed  before,  to  test  power  of  original 
thinking.  Illustration :  Question  whether  the  following  are 
real  property :  Stock  in  a  realty  corporation,  soil  severed  from 
land,  growing  trees  to  be  cut  down  for  lumber. 

Note.  As  there  are  at  least  two  important  topics  connected  with  the  dis- 
tinction between  real  and  personal  property  —  {a)  The  rules  with  regard  to 
personal  property  attached  to  the  land  becoming  real  property  (the  doctrine 
of  fixtures)  and  {b)  the  rules  with  regard  to  things  which  are  of  the  land  (like 
crops),  but  which  are  considered  as  personal  property  under  certain  condi- 
tions —  the  rules  connected  with  each  one  of  the  topics  should  be  developed 
separately.  Hence,  this  lesson  contains  at  least  two  different  lessons,  each  one 
having  the  steps  of  presentation,  generalization,  and  application. 

SUMMARY 

The  teaching  of  commercial  law  in  secondary  schools  must, 
as  a  general  rule,  be  intrusted  to  persons  who  have  had  no 
legal  training.  A  knowledge  of  the  purpose  of  the  study 
will  be  of  great  help  to  the  teacher  in  giving  him  the  right 
point  of  view  in  teaching. 


Commercial  Law  341 

The  purpose  of  the  study  is  (i)  to  enable  the  business  man 
to  prevent  Htigation  by  safeguarding  his  rights  at  the  time 
when  he  enters  into  his  contracts ;  (2)  to  give  the  student  who 
will  specialize  in  accountancy  the  necessary  correlated  knowl- 
edge of  law ;  (3)  to  give  the  student  a  better  knowledge  of  our 
institutions  and  his  duties  to  the  state  and  other  individuals ; 
(4)  to  give  him  mental  discipline,  —  particularly  to  train  his 
judgment ;  (5)  to  throw  strong  side-lights  upon  related  sub- 
jects, like  the  history  of  commerce,  accounting,  and  arith- 
metic. 

In  order  to  organize  the  study  properly,  we  must  limit  the 
number  of  topics  included  in  the  study,  and  emphasize  some 
more  than  others.  Topics  of  the  first  line  of  importance  are 
contracts,  sales,  and  negotiable  instruments ;  topics  of  the 
second  Hne  of  importance  are  agency,  partnership,  bailment 
and  common  carriers,  landlord  and  tenant ;  topics  of  the 
third  line  of  importance  are  insurance,  guaranty  and  surety, 
and  corporations. 

A  few  preliminary  topics  should  precede  the  substantive 
study  of  commercial  law,  such  as  the  function  of  the  courts, 
especially  the  appellate  courts,  in  relation  to  commercial  law, 
the  meaning  of  precedent,  how  a  rule  of  law  is  established,  how 
it  is  changed,  and  the  distinction  between  the  common  law 
and  statute  law. 

The  general  methods  of  studying  law  are  the  text-book 
method  and  the  case  method.  The  latter  is  the  method  used 
in  the  leading  law  schools,  but  in  its  strict  form  is  not  adaptable 
to  secondary  schools,  because  there  is  no  available  case  book. 
But  even  with  present  text-books,  some  of  the  benefits  of  the 
inductive  or  case  method  can  be  secured.  This  leads  us  to 
discuss  the  following  special  points  in  method : 

(i)  Every  new  topic  should  be  introduced  in  correlation 


342     Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

with  business,  and  in  view  of  the  way  in  which  it  satisfies 
the  needs  of  commerce. 

(2)  The  principle  of  law  should  be  presented  next. 

(3)  The  cause  and  the  reasonableness  of  the  rule  should  be 
discussed. 

(4)  The  rule  should  be  applied  to  a  large  number  of  cases, 
and  the  Socratic  method  used  in  correcting  wrong  answers. 

(5)  Documents  and  legal  forms  help  to  make  the  study 
concrete. 

In  the  handling  of  problem  cases  the  following  points  should 
be  observed :  They  should  be  graded ;  they  should  present 
one  difficulty  at  a  time ;  the  statement  of  facts  should  be  brief, 
without  omitting  essential  points ;  and  the  cases  should  be 
made  real,  by  correlating  the  facts  in  them  with  actual  busi- 
ness. 

There  should  be  a  continuous  review  of  preceding  topics 
by  a  large  number  of  miscellaneous  reviews  throughout  the 
course.  The  examination  in  commercial  law  should  not  be 
on  definitions  or  rules  but  on  cases. 

Research  work  may  be  given  to  a  limited  number  of  ambi- 
tious students,  in  order  to  give  them  a  first-hand  acquaintance 
with  the  sources  of  law.  As  a  part  of  every  teacher's  equip- 
ment there  should  be  a  fair  professional  library,  including 
standard  text-books,  case  books,  secondary  schoolbooks,  a 
collection  of  statutes  of  the  state,  and,  if  possible,  an  encyclo- 
paedia of  law. 

EXERCISES 

GROUP  ONE 

1.  Tell  what  means  the  teacher  who  has  not  had  a  legal  education 
should  adopt,  in  order  to  make  his  teaching  of  commercial  law  effective. 

2.  What  is  the  broadly  practical  and  the  narrowly  utilitarian  purpose 
of  the  study  of  commercial  law  ? 


Commercial  Law  343 

3.  Why  is  a  knowledge  of  law  essential  to  the  good  citizen  and  to  the 
man  of  culture  ? 

4.  What  principles  would  guide  you  in  limiting  the  field  of  commercial 
law,  and  how  would  you  determine  the  relative  emphasis  to  be  laid  on 
different  topics  ? 

5.  Give  the  advantages  and  the  disadvantages  of  the  case-book 
method  of  instruction. 

6.  How  would  you  proceed  to  give  the  student  an  idea  of  the  im- 
portance of  "precedent"  in  law? 

7.  Illustrate  the  use  of  Socratic  questioning  in  correcting  wrong 
answers  in  law. 

8.  To  what  extent  and  why  would  you  allow  criticism  and  arguments 
on  the  reasonableness  of  certain  principles  as  established  by  judges  ? 

9.  What  principles  would  you  bear  in  mind  in  selecting  and  assigning 
problem  cases  to  the  class  ? 

10.  What  use  would  you  make  of  legal  forms  and  documents  ?  To 
what  extent  would  you  let  students  draw  up  such  forms  ? 

GROUP  TWO 

1.  What  phases  of  the  law  of  evidence  would  you  give  to  a  class  of 
pupils  who  intend  to  specialize  in  accountancy  ?    Why  ? 

2.  If  a  pupil  wants  information  on  a  topic  like  the  statute  of  frauds 
in  your  state,  with  reference  to  sales  of  personal  property,  how  would  you 
direct  him  to  find  the  information  ? 

3.  Give  an  outline  of  a  lesson  or  a  series  of  lessons  on  the  legal  e£fect 
of  indorsement. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY! 

Secondary  School  Text-books 

BuRDiCK,  F.  M.,  Essentials  of  Business  Law.    New  York,  Appleton  & 

Co.,  1904. 
Gano,  D.  C.,  Commercial  Law.     New  York,  Amer.  Book  Co.,  1904. 

Teacher's  Hand  Book.     New  York,  Amer.  Book  Co.,  1907. 
HuFFCUT,  E.  W.,  Elements  of  Business  Law.     New  York,  Ginn  &  Co., 
1905. 
Teachers'  Manual.     New  York,  Ginn  &  Co.,  1905. 

!  For  references  to  sources  and  other  references  see  pp.  335-336. 


CHAPTER  XII 

Economics 

function  of  the  course 

This  subject  properly  forms  the  culmination  of  the  entire 
business  course.  Its  function  is  to  organize  and  classify  the 
student's  knowledge  of  business,  in  accordance  with  the  fun- 
damental principles  and  laws  that  operate  in  it.  It  is  there- 
fore designed  to  give  him  the  proper  outlook  upon  business 
policy,  by  teaching  him  how  to  weigh  principles  and  actions 
in  the  light  of  fundamental  laws.  For  that  reason  we  may  call 
the  subject  the  philosophy  of  business.  A  knowledge  of  this 
is  essential  to  every  good  citizen,  because  questions  of  gov- 
ernmental policy  are  so  frequently  economic  in  nature  that 
the  citizen  who  votes  on  matters  of  this  sort  should  have  some 
means  of  estimating  the  arguments  pro  and  con  of  every  ques- 
tion, instead  of  having  to  depend  upon  rule  of  thumb,  or 
specious  arguments  of  politicians.  Moreover,  sound  eco- 
nomic policy  in  business  is  dependent  upon  a  knowledge  — 
which,  it  is  true,  some  persons  who  have  never  studied  eco- 
nomics possess  by  intuition  —  of  the  fundamental  laws  of 
economics.  And  no  person  who  has  studied  it  will  be  attracted 
by  fraudulent  advertisements  which  promise  exceptionally 
high  returns  upon  an  investment.  For  the  economist  realizes 
that  safety  and  rate  of  return  are  in  inverse  relation,  and  when 
a  certain  business  proposition  offers  high  returns,  he  knows 
that  it  requires  investigation.  If  he  chooses  to  invest,  he  does 
so  with  his  eyes  open,  knowing  the  risks  he  must  run  in  doing 

344 


Economics  345 

it.  But  he  is  rarely  taken  in  by  the  mere  ghttering  prospects 
laid  before  him.  The  number  of  illustrations  on  the  value  of 
the  knowledge  of  economic  law  may  be  multiplied  indefi- 
nitely. 

The  basis  of  preparation  of  the  student  of  economics  is  a 
knowledge  of  the  concrete  phases  of  business,  and  a  descrip- 
tion of  the  forces  which  operate  in  business.  In  such  subjects 
as  commercial  geography,  for  example,  the  treatment  was 
more  or  less  descriptive.  It  is  true  that  the  organization  of 
facts  in  accordance  with  causal  relationship  was  insisted  upon ; 
but  the  organization  of  the  facts  under  economic  laws  was  not 
taken  up  except  incidentally,  because  the  mind  of  the  student 
was  hardly  mature  for  this  kind  of  systematization.  Before 
the  study  of  economic  theory  can  be  taken  up,  the  student 
must  be  well  grounded  in  the  facts  relating  to  industrial  life. 
Many  economic  theories  appear  half  baked,  just  because  those 
who  formulate  them  have  not  taken  the  trouble  to  found  them 
upon  a  large  basis  of  fact. 

In  view,  therefore,  of  the  large  presupposition  of  experience 
on  the  part  of  the  student,  a  deductive  treatment  of  the  sub- 
ject may  be  justified  here  more  than  in  any  other  stage.  The 
abstract  principles  will  not  appear  so  abstract,  because  the 
minds  of  the  students  have  been  prepared  for  the  work. 
Nevertheless,  extensive  application  to  concrete  facts  of  busi- 
ness should  make  the  abstract  principles  alive  and  real. 
Therefore,  to  give  the  student  economic  law,  without  illustrat- 
ing its  workings  in  real  life,  is  to  give  him  an  empty  formula. 
There  is  no  objection,  however,  to  beginning  the  subject  in- 
ductively, so  as  to  establish  the  purpose  of  the  subject.  Thus, 
the  basic  principle  in  our  economic  life  is  the  existence  of 
desires.  Our  pupils  may  be  guided  to  establish  the  existence 
of  such  psychologic  phenomena  by  a  series  of  questions  aris- 


346     Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

ing  out  of  the  general  query,  "  Why  does  your  father  work?  " 
This  exercise  might  be  followed  by  another  in  order  to  estab- 
lish the  intensity  of  desires  which  will  be  found  to  be  in  the 
order  from  necessity  to  luxury,  or,  more  specifically,  from  food, 
clothing,  and  shelter,  to  the  desire  for  pleasure.  Another 
task  which  may  be  assigned  in  the  preliminary  stage  is  a  divi- 
sion of  occupations  into  extractive,  convertive,  distributive. 
A  successful  means  of  accomplishing  this  end  is  to  arrange  the 
various  occupations  with  which  the  pupils  are  familiar,  and 
then  to  group  them  in  accordance  with  their  nature  or  func- 
tion. Though  some  of  this  work  may  have  been  done  in  con- 
nection with  earlier  topics,  it  may  be  repeated  for  the  sake  of 
a  firm  foundation. 

Even  our  writers  of  modern  text-books  have  recognized  the 
necessity  of  a  certain  inductive  presentation  of  economics 
in  their  text  so  as  to  trace  its  principles  in  a  more  satisfactory 
sequence.  Thus,  the  psychological  school  of  economists  be- 
gins the  subject  with  a  consideration  of  consumption  —  the 
satisfaction  of  certain  needs  which  exist  in  man.  This  leads 
to  a  consideration  of  the  means  by  which  man  may  satisfy 
those  needs,  and  brings  up  the  subjects  of  production  and 
distribution.  This  sequence  should  be  followed  by  the  teacher 
also. 

DIFFICULTIES   AND   HOW   TO   MEET   THEM 

(i)  Ground  to  be  covered.  In  the  time  assigned  to  the 
subject  in  secondary  schools,  it  is  evidently  impossible  to  do 
full  justice  to  all  its  phases.  One  difficulty  in  covering  the 
ground  has  been  the  inadequate  basis  of  experience  on  the 
part  of  the  student.  We  have  tried  to  meet  this  difficulty  in 
our  course  by  providing  a  special  course  on  the  technique  of 
commerce  and  industry,  in  which  many  of  the  descriptive 


Economics  347 

phases  can  be  treated,  to  the  relief  of  the  course  in  pure  eco- 
nomics. Thus,  it  is  a  burden  on  this  course  to  be  compelled 
to  consider  such  details  as  the  concrete  workings  of  the  clear- 
ing house  or  the  stock  exchange.  Such  descriptive  phases 
should  be  treated  in  the  other  course,  so  as  to  limit  our  work 
here  to  a  very  brief  review,  if  necessary,  and  the  consideration 
of  the  philosophy  of  bank  clearings  or  stock  speculation,  the 
economics  of  clearing-house  certificates  in  times  of  panic,  etc. 
In  our  commgrcial  curriculum  we  provided  that  the  work  on 
money  and  banking  should  come  in  the  last  year  contempo- 
raneous with  the  work  in  economics.  This  also  would  relieve 
the  course  in  pure  economics  from  the  consideration  of  this 
topic,  while  the  work  in  money  and  banking  could  combine 
both  the  descriptive  and  the  philosophic  phases  of  the  subject. 

Another  way  in  which  the  difficulty  connected  with  the 
ground  to  be  covered  may  be  met  is  by  limiting  the  number 
of  topics.  As  between  a  full  treatment  of  a  few  selected  topics 
and  a  superficial  treatment  of  the  entire  field,  the  first  is  pref- 
erable. In  making  our  selection  of  topics,  we  should  be  guided, 
first,  by  the  relation  of  the  subject  selected  to  current  issues, 
and  secondly,  by  its  relation  to  sound  business  policy. 

(2)  The  great  difficulty  which  economists  have  in  defining 
their  fundamental  concepts,  such  as  value,  capital,  etc., 
may  be  considered  by  some  an  argument  against  introducing 
the  subject  in  the  secondary  schools.  But  the  same  argument, 
if  applied  to  geometry,  would  lead  us  to  exclude  that  subject 
also.  Mathematicians  have  been  unable  to  define  such  terms 
as  straight  fine,  angle,  axiom,  but  this  does  not  at  all  interfere 
with  our  understanding  of  geometric  propositions  that  are 
based  upon  these  concepts.  It  is  true  that  we  cannot  define 
these  terms,  but  we  have  a  working  knowledge  of  what  they 
are.     Similarly,  we  may  not  be  able  to  define  our  fundamen- 


348    Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

tal  concepts  in  economics,  but  we  have  a  general  notion  of 
what  they  are. 

How  much  time  should  the  teacher  devote  to  the  consid- 
eration of  some  of  the  abstract  terms?  Extended  study  of 
the  controversy  which  exists,  as  to  the  meaning  of  such  terms 
as  value,  rent,  and  interest,  is  hardly  desirable.  The  attempt 
to  consider  the  differences  of  view  regarding  the  definitions 
of  these  terms  will  lead  the  student  into  the  metaphysical 
field,  for  which  his  mind  is  hardly  prepared,  and  the  results 
will  hardly  compensate  him  for  the  effort.  But  where  a  dif- 
ference of  view  regarding  the  meaning  of  certain  terms  is  mate- 
rial to  the  understanding  of  practical  issues,  it  should  receive 
due  consideration.  For  example,  a  proper  valuation  of  the 
various  definitions  of  capital  will  have  a  material  bearing  upon 
one's  attitude  toward  socialism  or  similar  economic  plans. 

(3)  The  laws  of  economics  are  by  no  means  so  fixed  and 
eternal  as  those  of  natural  science.  There  are  many  economic 
principles,  the  truth  of  which  is  still  debatable,  and  many 
theories,  urging  their  claims  for  acceptance,  which  are  only 
countenanced  by  a  small  number  of  men.  What  stand  should 
the  teacher  take  on  debatable  topics,  especially  where  these 
topics  have  become  political  issues?  Thus,  what  position 
should  the  instructor  take  with  reference  to  the  relative  merits 
of  free  trade  and  protection  ?  This  difficulty  is  not  insurmount- 
able if  we  bear  in  mind  that  our  attitude  should  be  a  judicial 
one.  The  student  is  entitled  to  know  the  arguments  on  both 
sides,  and  to  weigh  them  for  himself.  The  teacher  who  takes 
a  particular  stand  on  a  question  is  apt  to  be  a  partisan.  The 
proper  attitude  of  mind  is  the  judicial  one ;  and  it  is  to  be 
assumed  particularly  toward  such  doctrines  as  socialism. 
It  is  not  the  duty  of  the  teacher  either  to  uphold  the  doctrine 
or  to  attack  it,  but  to  show  both  its  strength  and  its  weakness. 


Economics  349 

and  leave  the  decision  to  the  student.  One  thing  the  teacher 
should  do,  however,  and  that  is  to  check  the  student  from 
drawing  rash  conclusions  and  from  becoming  a  narrow  partisan. 
He  should  be  led  to  suspend  final  judgment  until  such  time 
as  he  is  mature  enough  to  take  a  final  stand  on  the  matter. 

But,  it  may  be  objected,  how  can  the  student  be  expected 
to  arrive  at  the  truth,  if  economists  themselves  are  not  agreed 
upon  what  the  truth  is?  The  student  of  philosophy  finds 
the  same  difi&culty.  In  answer  to  this  objection,  it  may  be 
said  that  whether  the  student  makes  up  his  mind  definitely 
as  to  where  the  truth  is,  is  of  far  less  importance  than  whether 
he  realizes  the  existence  of  the  issue  or  the  problem,  and  the 
necessity  of  deep  study  and  reflection  to  arrive  at  some  work- 
ing conclusion.  The  man  who  realizes  that  a  difficulty  exists, 
even  though  he  does  not  know  the  way  out,  is  ahead  of  the 
one  who  is  not  even  aware  of  the  existence  of  the  problem. 

TOPICS   IN   ECONOMICS 

Though  desires  for  food,  shelter,  and  the  satisfaction  of 
other  desires  are  our  ruling  motives  for  economic  activity, 
production  and  distribution  are  more  important  divisions  of 
the  secondary  school  economics  than  consumption.  In  pro- 
duction, the  various  classes  of  producers  should  be  treated 
of,  and  it  should  be  understood  why  certain  countries  are 
leaders  in  certain  lines  and  why  others  have  been  unsuccessful. 
The  elements  which  contribute  to  production  should  be  studied 
preferably  through  the  medium  of  a  typical  industry,  like  the 
steel  industry.  A  consideration  of  the  United  States  Steel 
Corporation,  both  in  its  phases  of  production  and  organiza- 
tion, will  serve  as  a  means  of  organizing  in  the  students' 
minds  the  principles  underlying  production. 

Distribution  is  the  field  wherein  most  opportunity  is  afforded 


350     Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

for  effective  treatment  with  commercial  pupils.  This  division 
of  economics  includes,  among  other  headings,  the  marketing 
of  finished  products,  transportation,  and  banking.  If  time 
permits,  public  utilities,  government  ownership,  banking  and 
currency  problems,  consular  service,  and  other  similar  topics 
may  be  discussed. 

Under  the  general  head  of  marketing,  it  is  well  to  discuss,  as 
of  fundamental  importance,  '/>/ace  and  time  utility.  The  study 
of  EngHsh  history  should  lead  the  pupils  to  realize  that  this 
form  of  utility  was  not  always  recognized.  Once  understood, 
the  difference  in  price,  due  to  supply  and  demand,  season  of 
the  year  and  location,  affords  no  difficulty.  Various  ways  of 
selling  must  also  be  considered.  This  involves  wholesaling, 
jobbing,  and  retaiHng.  It  also  includes  personal  selling,  selling 
by  advertising  or  by  salesmen,  and  the  mail-order  business. 
Importing  and  exporting,  together  with  the  related  problem 
of  warehousing,  should  also  be  discussed  in  this  connection. 

The  railroads  and  steamships  require  individual  attention. 
The  establishment  of  transportation  facilities  commencing 
with  the  turnpikes  has  meant  so  much  to  the  growth  of  our 
country  that  we  are  warranted  in  devoting  quite  some  time 
to  the  topic.  Besides  the  historical  side  of  the  subject,  the 
effect  of  the  public  service  utility  boards  and  the  Interstate 
Commerce  Commission  should  be  understood.  The  rate 
schedules  known  as  tarifs  should  be  discussed,  so  that  the  prin- 
ciple of  rate  making  shall  not  be  entirely  foreign  to  our  grad- 
uates. The  tendency  in  our  country  toward  better  service 
rather  than  lower  fares  or  rates  might  be  contrasted  with  the 
tendency  which  obtains  in  England  and  on  the  continent. 
Some  light  should  also  be  thrown  on  the  relation  between  the 
railroad  and  the  state  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  railroad  and 
the  pubHc  on  the  other,  so  that  a  clearer  vision  shall  be  ob- 


Economics  351 

tained  on  questions  involving  the  public  ownership  of  such 
public  utilities.  Time  will  hardly  permit  more  than  a  most 
casual  treatment  of  the  civic  and  political  issues  involved,  but 
it  is  quite  necessary  that  our  pupils  have  some  idea  of  the  ques- 
tions they  will  be  expected  to  express  views  upon  later  in  life. 

The  historical  development  of  banking  should  be  briefly 
traced  so  that  the  evolution  involved  shall  be  understood. 
The  changes  from  mere  safekeeping  to  investment  loans, 
from  monopoly  to  free  banking,  and  from  local  and  state  to 
national  banking,  are  the  important  points  in  the  historical 
sequence.  The  enlarged  functions  of  bankers  offer  both  in- 
teresting and  instructive  material  for  study.  The  methods 
employed  in  establishing  a  state  or  national  bank  should  be 
understood  in  general  terms,  while  the  present-day  distinctions 
between  state  and  national  banks,  and  state  banks  and  trust 
companies,  deserve  special  attention.  Savings  banks,  while 
not  important  from  a  commercial  standpoint,  are  neverthe- 
less worthy  of  attention.  The  United  States  Treasury  and 
the  Federal  Reserve  System  should  also  be  briefly  discussed. 

Produce  markets,  such  as  cotton,  coffee,  and  produce  ex- 
changes, also  deserve  special  attention.  Spot  buying  and  deal- 
ing in  futures  should  be  understood.  The  difference  between 
gambling  and  speculation,  together  with  the  economic  value  of 
future  trading,  are  both  interesting  and  edifying  to  the  average 
student.  The  great  growth  of  stock  exchanges,  due  to  the 
spread  of  the  corporate  form  of  organization  and  the  wider 
and  more  general  public  investment  in  stocks  and  bonds,  is 
sufficient  warrant  for  including  the  subject  in  the  high  school 
course. 

Questions  involving  free  trade  and  protection  are  bound  to 
arise  every  once  in  a  while.  In  order  to  prepare  the  high 
school  pupil  for  intelligent  understanding  of  the  issues  involved, 


352     Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

we  are  justified  in  devoting  some  time  to  this  subject.  Tariff 
history  will  have  already  been  presented  in  their  history  courses, 
so  that  all  that  remains  for  treatment  in  the  economics  room 
will  deal  with  the  principles  involved.  Clear  notions  should 
be  carried  away  regarding  the  fallacy  involved  in  mere  wage- 
scale  differences,  in  failing  to  consider  the  efficiency  of  the 
worker,  and  the  cost  of  transportation  between  the  source  of 
production  and  the  market  of  consumption.  The  wisdom  of 
protecting  infant  industries  should  be  compared  with  the  toll 
exacted  from  the  consuming  public,  which  suffers  during  the 
too  often  prolonged  period  prior  to  the  maturity,  and  also  with 
the  policy  of  doing  only  such  work  as  we  are  best  suited  for. 
The  argument  of  the  ultraprotectionists  who  appeal  to 
patriotism  in  order  to  make  us  a  self-sufficient  nation  should 
also  be  considered.  But  in  presenting  arguments  we  should 
avoid  the  appearance  of  being  dogmatic,  except  where  the 
argument  is  obviously  fallacious,  and  especially  where  the 
consensus  of  recognized  opinion  on  the  subject  is  practically 
unanimous. 

Crises  and  panics  are  a  common  phenomenon  of  our  eco- 
nomic and  industrial  life.  A  tendency  toward  periodic  recur- 
rence has  been  detected,  and  some  theories  have  been  advanced 
regarding  the  "  cycles  of  good  times  and  hard  times."  Be- 
sides devoting  some  attention  to  the  history  of  panics  in  our 
country  and  the  cycles  referred  to,  we  should  present  the  cur- 
rency problem  with  sufficient  fulness  to  enable  the  formation 
of  individual  opinions  regarding  the  relation  between  sound 
banking  and  panics. 

We  have  indicated  but  a  few  of  the  important  headings 
suggested  by  a  complete  course  in  economics.  There  are 
several  other  topics  which  are  extremely  important,  and  the 
consideration  of  which  must  not  be  shirked,  in  spite  of  the 


Economics  353 

temptation  to  avoid  embarrassing  issues.  These  include 
trade-unionism,  the  regulation  of  trusts,  and  socialism.  As 
was  said  before,  the  issues  on  these  subjects  should  be  pre- 
sented fairly,  and  so  far  as  possible  without  partisan  bias. 
Certain  questions  of  public  finance  should  also  be  taken  up, 
either  as  a  part  of  the  course  or  in  supplementary  work  in 
connection  with  applied  economics. 

NOTES    ON    METHODS    OF    TEACHING 

I.  Type  Method.  —  The  development  of  abstract  prin- 
ciples by  means  of  type  illustrations  is  an  important 
means  of  making  the  principle  concrete.  As  we  showed 
before,  it  may  be  useful  to  bring  out  the  processes  in- 
volved in  production  by  taking  the  United  States  Steel 
Corporation  as  a  type.  As  an  illustration  of  the  estab- 
lishment of  an  abstract  economic  principle  by  means  of 
a  typical  illustration,  let  us  take  the  economic  law  of  diminish- 
ing returns.  The  principle  may  be  established  by  selecting  a 
square  mile  of  land  devoted  to  potato-growing.  It  will  be 
evident  that  a  piece  of  a  given  fertility  may  be  made  to  pro- 
duce more  than  the  product  which  would  result  from  the  efiforts 
of  one  man  working  without  any  tools  whatsoever.  But  it 
is  also  evident  that  if  we  were  to  hire  enough  men  so  as  to 
place  one  upon  each  single  square  foot  that  the  wages  would 
exceed  the  value  of  the  output.  Somewhere  between  one 
man  and  a  thousand,  let  us  say,  is  the  proper  mean.  A  prob- 
lem may  be  formulated  easily  in  which,  by  a  comparison  be- 
tween the  value  of  the  product  resulting  from  the  employment 
of  various  combinations  of  men  and  tools,  we  discover  the  most 
satisfactory  combination.  The  application  may  be  made 
to  a  factory  or  other  industrial  organizations,  and  similar 
tests  applied. 


354     Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

2.  Application  of  the  Historical  Method  to  Economics.  — 

The  orthodox  school  of  economists  of  the  type  of  John  Stuart 
Mill  made  the  mistake  of  discussing  the  principles  of  economics 
from  the  standpoint  of  a  particular  state  of  society.  They 
disregarded  the  fact  that  whether  a  principle  is  true  or  not 
may  depend  upon  the  conditions  to  which  one  tries  to  apply 
it.  This  historical  point  of  view  is  very  important  in  dis- 
criminating between  two  opposing  points  of  view  on  a  certain 
question.  Some  of  the  advocates  of  protection  or  free  trade, 
for  example,  speak  of  their  respective  doctrines  as  if  they 
represented  eternal  truths,  regardless  of  circumstances.  There 
is  no  absolute  or  eternal  truth,  either  in  the  protectionist  or  the 
free-trade  policy.  The  truth  of  the  doctrine  depends  to  a  large 
extent  upon  the  economic  condition  of  the  state  of  society  to 
which  the  policy  is  to  be  applied.  Even  the  most  rabid  free- 
trader will  admit  that  the  protectionist  policy  was  responsible 
for  the  development  of  great  French  and  German  industries. 
But,  likewise,  the  fanatical  protectionist  will  have  to  concede 
that  the  English  cotton  industry  needs  no  protection,  and 
any  duty  on  cotton  goods  in  England  would  be  really  a  burden 
to  the  consumer. 

The  historical  phases  of  economics  are  important,  not  only 
because  of  their  culture  aspect  and  their  correlation  with  indus- 
trial history,  but  because  they  determine  the  right  attitude 
of  the  mind  toward  economic  questions.  The  most  vehement 
advocate  of  the  free  coinage  of  silver  recognizes  that  the  issue 
is  absolutely  dead  to-day,  because  of  the  enormous  gold  produc- 
tion of  the  past  fifteen  years.  Questions  of  economic  policy 
should  therefore  not  be  determined  from  the  standpoint  of 
their  absolute  truth,  but  from  the  standpoint  of  their  truth 
relative  to  conditions  as  they  exist  in  a  particular  time  and 
place. 


Economics  355 

3.  The  Use  of  the  Seminar  Method.  —  In  the  college  or 
university  course,  a  required  part  of  every  student's  work 
includes  research  on  some  special  topic  in  economics,  in  addi- 
tion to  the  general  work  of  the  class.  A  limited  amount  of 
special  investigation  is  advisable,  just  as  it  is  advisable  in  the 
history  work  in  secondary  school  to  assign  special  essays,  in 
the  preparation  of  which  the  students  obtain  some  acquaint- 
ance with  sources  and  authorities,  and  some  practice  in  weigh- 
ing evidence.  Similar  motives  apply  in  economics.  One 
application  of  this  method  is  the  arrangement  of  debates  on 
economic  questions.  Informal  debates  or  discussion  in  the 
class  should  be  resorted  to  at  all  times,  because  they  bring 
out  the  freest  discussion  on  the  part  of  the  members  of  the 
class.  But  formal  debates,  requiring  close  preparation,  are 
not  so  good  as  special  investigations  on  some  particular  topic. 
The  attitude  of  the  debater  is  one  of  narrow  partisanship. 
Anything  that  tends  to  challenge  his  side  of  the  issue  he 
neglects,  and  anything  that  tends  to  favor  his  side  he  is  apt 
to  exaggerate.  The  special  investigation,  on  the  other  hand, 
compels  the  student  to  investigate  into  the  relative  merits  of 
the  issue,  carefully  to  weigh  the  evidence,  and  to  give  a  judi- 
cial decision. 

4.  Application  and  Drill.  —  Sufficient  has  been  said  already 
to  indicate  the  importance  of  applying  the  abstract  principles 
of  economics  to  the  interpretation  of  current  politico-economic 
issues  and  problems  of  business  organization  and  policy. 

S-  Use  of  Graphs.  —  As  in  commercial  geography,  extensive 
use  should  be  made  of  graphs.  The  text-books  give  several 
applications  of  the  use  of  the  graphs  by  means  of  which  some 
of  the  abstract  laws  of  economics  are  elucidated. 

In  conclusion,  it  must  be  said  that  the  purpose  of  the  course 
in  economics  is  not  to  cram  a  student  full  of  fact  or  to  give 


356    Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

him  a  lot  of  patent  remedies  for  economic  evils,  but  to  stimu- 
late him  to  realize  the  existence  of  economic  problems,  to  di- 
rect the  line  of  thought  he  must  follow  to  find  the  solution 
of  those  problems  for  himself,  and  to  interest  him  in  pursuing 
his  reading  and  study  of  economic  works  after  he  has  left 
school,  and  to  lead  him  to  weigh  public  economic  questions 
in  the  light  of  fundamental  principles,  so  as  to  make  him  an 
intelUgent  and  broad-minded  participant  in  our  democracy. 

SYLLABUS   IN   ECONOMICS  ^ 

I.  Consumption.  Human  wants  :  their  classification ;  how 
satisfied;  why  wants  increase;  how  new  wants  are  created 
and  the  significance  of  this  to  the  business  man. 

Utilities :  kinds  of  utility,  elementary  or  qualitative,  form 
utility,  place  utiHty,  time  utility,  quantitative  utihty. 

Goods :  economic  and  free,  the  transition  from  one  to  the 
other ;  the  law  of  diminishing  utility ;  marginal  utility ;  pres- 
ent goods  versus  future  goods  ;  the  law  of  demand ;  the  causes 
of  increase  or  decrease  in  demand;  elastic  versus  inelastic 
demand ;  stimulation  of  demand ;  the  law  of  variety ;  the 
function  of  advertising ;  the  effects  of  prosperity  and  adversity 
on  demand ;  of  charges  of  fashion ;  of  accident ;  the  law  of 
least  social  cost. 

Productive  consumption  and  final  consumption :  statistics 
of  consumption ;  Engel's  Law ;  the  influence  of  education 
on  expenditures. 

II.  Production.  Definition  of  production :  value  of  motive 
force  of  production ;  value  as  estimate  of  marginal  utility ; 
the  relation  between  value  and  the  cost  of  production  of  the 
marginal  producer  and  the  utility  of  the  marginal  unit  to 

^  A  full  outline,  which  may  have  to  be  somewhat  curtailed  by  schools  which 
cannot  afford  suflScient  time  for  a  complete  treatment. 


Economics  357 

the  marginal  consumer.  Normal  value  and  market  value 
under  competitive  conditions  and  under  monopoly  conditions. 
Explanations  of  the  formula  that  monopolies  tend  to  fix  prices 
at  the  point  of  greatest  net  return.  The  factors  in  production. 
The  products  of  a  country  depend  upon  :  {A )  Physical  condi- 
tions ;  {B)  (i)  Upon  the  number  of  laborers  and  (2)  efficiency 
of  the  individual  laborer ;  (C)  Upon  the  material  equipment ; 
{D)  Upon  the  organization  of  the  laborers  and  their  adjust- 
ment to  the  physical  environment  and  to  the  material  equip- 
ment. 

III.  Nature.  Nature  supplies :  (a)  Land,  (b)  Water,  (c) 
Vegetable  life,  (d)  Animal  life,  (e)  Natural  materials  and 
forces. 

The  law  of  diminishing  returns  as  applied  to  agriculture, 
mines,  fisheries,  and  building  sites. 

IV.  Labor.  The  problem  of  population ;  efficiency  of  in- 
dividual laborers  depends  upon:  (A)  Health,  (B)  Physical 
strength  and  endurance,  (C)  Intelligence,  (D)  Judgment, 
(E)  Ambition,  (F)  Energy,  (G)  Perseverance,  (H)  Imagina- 
tion, (/)  Mechanical  ingenuity,  (/)  Technical  knowledge. 
The  elements  determining  each  of  them.  The  efficiency  of 
the  workers  as  tested  by  unit  cost.  The  relative  efficiency 
of  American  workmen  and  those  of  foreign  countries. 

V.  The  Material  Equipment  —  Capital.  The  definition 
of  capital;  the  origin  of  capital;  the  chief  kinds  of  capital 
goods;  the  distinction  between  fijxed  and  circulating  capital 
goods,  specialized  and  free  capital  goods.  The  advantage  of 
the  capitalistic  methods  of  production  ;  the  law  of  diminishing 
returns  in  capital;  capital  funds  the  result  of  saving;  the 
chief  ways  in  which  capital  funds  are  converted  into  capital 
goods :  (A)  Through  the  investment  of  one's  saving  in  one's 
own  business;    (B)   Through  direct  borrowing  of  savings  of 


358    Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

others;    (C)    By  direct  borrowing  through  banks;    produc- 
tion conditioned  by  ability  and  will  to  save. 

VI.  Business  Organization.  Simple  cooperation ;  division 
of  occupation ;  complex  division  of  labor  within  an  occupa- 
tion ;  territorial  division  of  labor ;  the  economic  stages  in 
the  evolution  of  our  complex  division  of  labor. 

The  chief  forms  of  business  organization  are:  {A)  The 
single  entrepreneur;  {B)  The  partnership;  (C)  The  simple 
corporation;  {D)  The  trust  or  holding  company;  {E) 
Organized  society,  government  ownership. 

The  advantages  of  large-scale  production;  cases  where  a 
large  scale  of  production  is  not  desirable. 

VII.  The  Trust  Problem.  The  trust ;  the  holding  com- 
pany of  to-day ;  the  chief  objections  to  the  trust,  extortionate 
prices,  the  watering  of  stock,  unfair  competition ;  political 
influence ;  remedies  for  each ;  the  advantage  of  trusts ;  the 
Sherman  Act. 

VIII.  Transportation.  The  various  methods  of  transporta- 
tion, by  manual  power,  animal  power,  water,  steam,  elec- 
tricity ;  the  theory  and  practice  of  rates ;  discrimination  in 
rates  and  its  consequences ;  the  work  of  the  Interstate  Com- 
merce Commission  and  of  the  Public  Service  Commission  of 
the  State. 

IX.  Marketing  Goods.  The  reasons  for  the  exchange  of 
commodities  found  in  differences  of  climate,  of  other  environ- 
ment, of  ability,  and  of  wants.  The  law  of  comparative  costs 
as  the  basis  of  exchange.  The  mechanism  of  exchange  as 
weights,  measures,  etc. ;  the  historical  form  of  exchange ; 
why  the  fair  and  weekly  market  have  disappeared ;  the  ser- 
vice rendered  by  the  middleman ;  why  he  is  being  eliminated. 

X.  Money.  The  historic  forms  of  money;  definition  of 
money ;    the  functions  of  money ;   the  value  of  money ;   dis- 


Economics 


359 


cussion  of  the  quantity  of  money ;  the  use  of  index  numbers  for 
determining  a  general  rise  or  fall  in  prices  ;  the  single  standard ; 
the  double  standard ;  the  multiple  standard ;  the  advantages 
and  disadvantages  of  each ;  Gresham's  Law ;  the  issue  of 
paper  money ;  reasons  for ;  effects ;  our  present  money 
system. 

XI.  Credit.  Meaning  of  credit ;  benefits  and  evils  of ; 
effects  on  prices ;  the  chief  forms  of  credit  paper ;  uses  and 
forms  of  each ;  speculation ;  benefits  and  evils ;  instruments 
for  speculation;  exchanges,  brokers;  panics  and  financial 
crises ;   their  causes ;   effects. 

XII.  Banking.  The  origin  of  banks;  the  chief  services 
rendered  by  banks ;  how  banks  extend  credit ;  the  nature  of 
bank  deposits ;  the  bank  reserve  and  its  effect ;  the  work  of 
the  trust  company  ;  of  savings  banks ;  of  private  banks ;  the 
functions  and  working  of  the  clearing  house ;  the  issue  of 
bank  notes ;  features  of  banking  in  the  United  States ;  the 
Federal  Reserve  System. 

XIII.  Foreign  Trade.  Chief  imports  and  exports  of  the 
United  States  and  of  the  Port  of  New  York ;  meaning  of  a 
favorable  balance  of  trade ;  how  the  difference  between  im- 
ports and  exports  is  made  up  ;  the  settling  of  balances ;  bills 
of  exchange ;  how  the  rate  is  determined ;  causes  affecting 
the  rates  of  exchange;  governmental  aid  to  foreign  trade 
through  our  system:of  ambassadors,  consuls,  and  special  agents  ; 
through  mail  and  ship  subsidies ;  through  commercial  treaties ; 
through  bounties,  tariffs,  tonnage  duties,  etc. 

XIV.  The  Tariff  Question.  The  arguments  for  and  against 
a  protective  tariff;  the  difference  between  a  revenue  and  a 
protective  tariff ;  reciprocity ;  the  most  favored  nation  clause ; 
the  argument  for  bounties. 

XV.  Distribution.     The    problem    of    distribution;     the 


360     Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

nature  of  income ;  gross  income  is  replacement  fund  and 
fund  available  for  current  consumption  (allocation  fund) ; 
the  effect  of  changes  in  prices  on  income;  real  income  and 
money  income;  the  shares  in  the  product,  rent,  wages,  in- 
terest, profits. 

XVI.  Rent.  Rent;  various  definitions  of  rent;  Fetter's 
conception  of  rent;  the  Ricardian  theory  of  rent;  the  con- 
nection between  rent  and  prices;  the  eflect  of  changes  in 
economic  conditions  in  rent;  agricultural  rent  and  urban 
rent ;  house  rents  and  ground  rents ;  the  unearned  incre- 
ment ;   the  capitalization  of  rent ;   the  taxation  of  rent. 

XVII.  Wages.  Definition  of;  money  wages  versus  real 
wages;  time  wages  and  piece  wages;  theories  of  wages, 
the  iron  law;  the  wage  fund,  bargain  theory,  productivity 
theories;  reconciliation  of  these  theories.  The  effect  on 
wages  of  machinery ;  of  the  agreeableness  or  disagreeableness 
of  the  work;  of  the  social  esteem  in  which  the  occupation 
is  held ;  of  the  chance  for  promotion ;  of  international  com- 
petition ;  of  irregularity  of  employment ;  of  education.  The 
labor  problem  a  wage  problem  ;  attempts  at  solution,  premium 
plans,  profit  sharing,  cooperation. 

The  work  of  the  labor  union,  the  weakness  of  the  uniform 
minimum  union  wage ;  the  efifect  on  wages  of  the  restriction 
of  output;  of  the  limitation  of  the  hours  of  labor;  of  the 
limitation  of  the  number  of  apprentices;  the  strike,  the 
lockout,  the  boycott;  the  black  list;  of  concihation  and 
arbitration ;  the  Canadian  system  of  arbitration ;  the  labor 
legislation  of  New  York  State;  workingmen's  insurance; 
Workmen's  Compensation  Act;  the  work  of  the  State  and 
Federal  Labor  Bureau,  women's  wages  and  hours  of  labor; 
the  child  labor  laws ;  the  wages  paid  in  typical  local  industries 
and  the  reason  for  the  differences. 


Economics  361 

XVIII.  Interest.  Definition  of ;  why  paid ;  various  the- 
ories ;  the  canonist,  the  abstinence,  the  naive  productivity ; 
the  Austrian,  the  Socialist  theory.  The  rate  of  interest; 
on  what  it  depends ;  why  the  rate  varies  in  different  localities 
and  countries  ;  the  rate  on  call  money ;  on  commercial  paper ; 
on  long  time  loans  ;  gross  interest  versus  net  or  pure  interest ; 
causes  of  the  fluctuation  in  the  rate ;  the  effect  of  money 
laws  on  the  rate ;  the  money  rate  as  an  index  of  trade  condi- 
tions. 

XIX.  Profits.  Why  profits  appear  as  a  distinct  share  in 
distribution ;  the  analogy  of  profits  and  rents ;  tendency  of 
profits  to  increase  or  decrease. 

Monopolies  :  Different  kinds  of  monopolies,  {A)  Personal ; 
{B)  Legal :  (i)  Private,  (2)  Public ;  (C)  Natural  monopolies 
of  situation ;  {D)  Natural  monopolies  of  organization ;  {E) 
Capitalistic  monopolies  ;    {F)  Labor  monopolies. 

The  formula  of  monopoly  price  "  Point  of  greatest  net 
return."  How  each  form  of  monopoly  seeks  to  obtain  the 
greatest  returns.     Methods  of  correcting  monopoly  profits. 

Limitations  on  power  of  monopolies  to  fix  prices  :  {A)  Power 
of  substitution ;  {B)  Potential  competition ;  (C)  Legal  inter- 
ference. 

XX.  State  Control  of  Industry.  {A)  Through  regulation 
of  prices ;  {B)  Through  regulation  of  the  industry :  (i)  In- 
terstate Commerce  Commission,  (2)  Public  Service  Commis- 
sion, (3)  State  Department  —  Banking  and  Insurance,  (4) 
Statutes,  (5)  The  courts ;  (C)  Through  regulation  of  profits ; 
{D)  Through  prohibition  of  combinations ;  (£)  Municipal 
ownership  —  the  arguments  against  and  for ;  (F)  Socialism. 
Definition  of ;  danger  of  confounding  with  anarchism  and 
communism ;  tabulation  of  socialistic  enterprises  in  this  state 
and  nation ;    the  nature  of  the  socialistic  society ;   its  effect 


362     Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

on  the  individual;   why  socialism  grows;   its  dangers;   why 
society  of  necessity  grows  more  socialistic. 

ECONOMIC  PROBLEMS.  An  intensive  study  of  at  least 
two  economic  problems :  {A)  The  trust  problem ;  {B)  The 
money  question ;  (C)  The  transportation  problems ;  {D)  The 
labor  question ;  (£)    Government  ownership. 

SUMMARY 

Economics,  as  the  philosophy  of  business,  forms  the  cul- 
mination of  the  entire  business  course.  The  basis  of  prep- 
aration for  this  subject  is  the  knowledge  of  the  descriptive 
phases  of  business  derived  from  the  preceding  studies. 

In  view  of  this  knowledge,  the  deductive  method  is  justi- 
fied here,  more  than  in  the  other  subjects.  But  the  inductive 
method  should  influence  us  in  arranging  the  sequence  of  topics, 
by  beginning  with  human  needs  and  the  means  of  satisfying 
them. 

The  difficulties  of  the  study  are  due  to  the  ground  to  be 
covered,  to  the  lack  of  uniformity  of  definition  of  fundamental 
concepts,  and  to  differences  between  economists  regarding 
the  validity  of  certain  economic  policies.  The  ways  in  which 
the  difficulties  may  be  met  are  explained  in  the  text.  The 
leading  topics  to  be  taken  up  in  the  course  are  then  con- 
sidered. 

Important  points  on  method  are:  (i)  The  development 
of  abstract  principles  by  means  of  type  illustrations  is  an 
important  means  of  making  the  principles  concrete ;  (2)  The 
historical  method  should  be  used,  because  of  its  aid  in  deter- 
mining the  right  attitude  of  mind  toward  economic  ques- 
tions; (3)  The  seminar  method  has  its  use,  in  connection 
with  preparation  for  debates  and  special  investigations  or 
supplementary  topics;     (4)  Economic  principles   should   be 


Economics  363 

applied   to  current  questions ;    (5)  Graphs  are  a  great  aid 
in  economics  as  well  as  in  commercial  geography. 

EXERCISES 
GROUP  ONE 

1.  Why  should  economics  be  offered  during  the  senior  year  of  the  high 
school  course  ? 

2.  Show  how  the  work  in  local  industries,  technique  of  commerce, 
commercial  geography,  and  history  of  commerce  may  be  utilized  by  the 
teacher  of  economics. 

3.  Name  the  most  important  economic  topics  to  be  included  in  the 
high  school  course.    On  what  do  you  base  your  opinion  ? 

4.  What  attitude  should  the  teacher  take  toward  questions  of  con- 
troversial economic  policy  ? 

5.  Should  economics  be  taught  inductively  or  deductively  ?  Explain 
your  answer  fully. 

6.  What  is  meant  by  the  historical  method  in  economics?  Show 
how  you  would  apply  it  in  teaching  free  trade  versus  protection. 

7.  Illustrate  how  the  use  of  the  graphic  method  helps  to  make  the 
teaching  of  economics  more  real. 

8.  What  place  would  you  assign  to  extemporaneous  and  prepared 
debates  on  economic  topics  ? 

GROUP  TWO 

1.  As  the  head  of  a  commercial  high  school,  what  attitude  would  you 
assume  toward  the  discussion  of  socialism  in  the  economics  class  room  ? 
Justify  your  stand. 

2.  Prepare  an  outline  on  the  laissez-faire  doctrine,  and  show  how  this 
model  outline  may  be  used  as  a  type  for  other  lessons  in  the  course. 

3.  Criticise  the  syllabus  appended  to  the  present  chapter,  and  sug- 
gest modifications  which  would  make  it  more  suitable  for  your  commun- 
ity.    Give  reasons  for  any  changes  you  may  advocate. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Brisco,  N.  a..  Economics  of  Business.     New  York,  Macmillan  Co.,  1913. 
Ely,  R.  T.,  Outline  of  Economics.    New  York,  Macmillan  Co.,  191 2. 


364^    Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

Plehn,  C.  C,  Introduction  to  Public  Finance.     New  York,  Macmillan 

Co.,  1913. 
Seager,  H.  R.,  Introduction  to  Economics.     New  York,  Holt  &  Co.,  1904. 
Sparling,  S.  E.,  Introduction  to  Business  Organization.     New  York, 

Macmillan  Co.,  1906. 
Taylor,  W.  G.  L.,  Exercises  in  Economics.    Lincoln,  Univ.  Pub.  Co., 

1900. 
Thurston,  H.  W.,  Economics  and  Industrial  History.    Chicago,  Scott, 

Foresman  &  Co.,  1899. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

Business  English 
aim  and  scope 

This  course  is  sometimes  given  separately  and  as  an  adjunct 
to  the  business  department.  There  is  no  reason  for  this, 
except  in  those  special  schools  which  have  no  English  depart- 
ment, and  which  have  a  more  narrow  aim  than  the  commercial 
secondary  school.  In  the  ordinary  high  school,  it  is  inad- 
visable to  make  this  separation,  because,  in  the  first  place,  it 
would  involve  a  duplication  of  work,  and  in  the  second  place, 
the  subject  would  be  in  charge  of  persons  who  are  not  special- 
ists in  teaching  English.  The  purpose  of  the  course,  as  we 
shall  outline  it  below,  is  to  indicate  to  the  English  depart- 
ment the  topics  that  are  to  be  included  as  a  part  of  its  course 
in  order  to  make  it  practical ;  and  secondly,  to  give  an  out- 
line to  such  schools  as  desire  to  give  a  specialized  course  in 
the  subject. 

In  this  connection,  it  should  be  remarked  that  the  teaching 
of  the  clear  and  idiomatic  use  of  the  mother  tongue  should 
not  be  looked  upon  as  the  concern  of  the  English  department 
alone.  Just  as  this  department  should  correlate  its  work 
with  the  other  departments  by  choosing  forms  and  topics 
that  will  be  of  use  in  the  other  subjects,  so  the  other  depart- 
ments should  make  it  a  part  of  their  aim  to  maintain  the  stand- 
ard of  good  English,  both  in  oral  and  written  expression.  This 
duty,  as  we  shall  see,  partly  devolves  upon  such  departments 
as  stenography  and  typewriting. 

365 


366     Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

The  aim  of  the  course  in  Business  EngHsh  is  to  give  the 
student  the  ability  to  use  the  English  language  clearly,  accu- 
rately, and  forcibly,  both  orally  and  in  writing,  in  connection 
with  all  the  different  phases  of  business  activity.  The  course, 
therefore,  includes  a  study  of  business  forms,  expressions,  and 
reports.  The  double  aim  that  we  find  in  the  ordinary  course 
in  English  —  ability  to  appreciate  literature  and  ability  to 
express  one's  thoughts  properly  —  may  be  compressed  into 
one,  and  the  teaching  of  composition  in  its  application  to 
business  may  sum  up  the  aim  of  the  course  in  Business 
English. 

The  essentials  of  composition  are  twofold :  first,  the  pos- 
session of  ideas  to  be  expressed,  and  secondly,  the  knowledge 
of  the  best  form  in  which  to  express  them.  It  is  the  function 
of  the  other  departments  to  give  the  students  ideas  upon  sub- 
jects connected  with  business.  While  they  do  this  to  broaden 
the  student's  mind,  by  giving  him  an  outline  of  the  activities 
and  the  requirements  of  business,  it  is  the  function  of  the 
English  department  to  see  that  those  ideas  acquired  in  the 
other  departments  will  find  adequate  expression  from  the 
standpoint  of  form.  The  English  teacher  in  the  commercial 
school  must,  therefore,  see  to  it  that  the  topics  he  chooses  for 
composition  are  such  as  are  within  the  range  of  the  students' 
experience.  It  is  especially  advisable  to  confine  all  composi- 
tion work  to  the  requirements  of  business  and  everyday  life, 
and  to  omit  compositions  which  deal  with  mere  literary  topics. 
What  are,  then,  the  prerequisites  of  good  composition  work 
on  the  formal  side?  These  are  correct  spelling  and  a  good 
vocabulary. 

The  importance  of  correct  spelling  need  not  be  discussed 
here,  because  it  is  so  obvious.  Even  in  a  high  school,  we  find 
students  misspelling  ordinary  words.     Spelling  drill  is  recom- 


Business  English  ;^6'j 

mended  in  the  work  of  this  department.  The  words  chosen 
should  be  such  as  are  commonly  misspelled.  The  teacher 
will  make  a  collection  of  these  from  the  papers  of  the  various 
students,  and  devote  a  few  minutes  to  drilling  the  class  on 
these  words.  The  teacher  of  stenography  will  do  the  same 
thing  with  words  that  are  misspelled  in  the  typewriting  tran- 
scriptions. 

The  acquisition  of  a  good  vocabulary  is  a  matter  of  practice, 
opportunities  for  which  are  found  in  connection  with  com- 
position work.  The  student's  meagre  stock  of  words  can 
easily  be  enlarged,  especially  if  the  teacher  directs  the  stu- 
dent, with  the  aid  of  the  dictionary,  to  introduce  variety  in 
his  expression.  Of  course,  a  method  sometimes  employed 
of  giving  students  lists  of  words  with  definitions  is  entirely 
inadequate  and  almost  useless.  Only  those  words  are  remem- 
bered which  confront  the  pupil  in  the  ordinary  course  of  his 
work,  and  which  he  is  therefore  compelled  to  master.  There 
is  danger,  to  be  sure,  in  encouraging  the  student  to  enlarge 
his  vocabulary  by  varying  expressions  which  he  is  using,  owing 
to  the  fact  that  he  is  apt  to  get  away  from  simplicity  of  expres- 
sion. But  this  danger  is  more  fancied  than  real,  and  will 
be  found  only  in  a  few  isolated  cases. 

GRAMMAR  AND   RHETORIC 

The  motive  in  studying  grammar  and  rhetoric  in  our  course 
is  entirely  practical.  It  is  not  intended  to  present  the  sub- 
ject in  its  scientific  completeness,  but  only  in  so  far  as  the  sub- 
ject will  be  of  practical  use  in  composition.  There  are,  indeed, 
persons  who  say  that  grammar  is  of  no  practical  use  in  teach- 
ing persons  how  to  write  correctly,  —  that  imitation  is  the 
great  source  of  correctness.  There  is  an  element  of  truth 
in  this,  but  there  is  also  an  element  of  exaggeration  in  it.     It 


368     Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

is  true  that  we  do  not  usually  write  with  the  aid  of  rules,  but 
if  we  did  not  know  the  rules  of  good  usage,  how  would  we 
be  able  to  judge  of  the  accuracy  of  our  expression,  if  we  came 
face  to  face  with  a  doubtful  construction?  The  most  valu- 
able use  of  grammar,  therefore,  lies  in  the  fact  that  it  enables 
us  to  criticise  and  improve  our  own  work.  Moreover,  sup- 
pose the  teacher  tries  to  correct  a  wrong  form  of  expression 
by  merely  telling  the  student  that  he  is  wrong,  without  giv- 
ing him  any  reason  for  this  fact.  What  kind  of  impres- 
sion will  he  make  upon  the  student's  mind?  If  we  are  to 
make  teaching  rational,  we  must  base  our  statements  upon 
a  rational  foundation,  and  we  do  this  by  means  of  the  study 
of  grammar  and  rhetoric.  The  rules  of  syntax  will  concern 
us  more  than  other  phases  of  technical  grammar.  These 
rules  will  be  tested  and  applied  in  connection  with  violations 
of  the  rules  of  agreement,  government,  and  order  of  words  in 
the  sentence.  The  memorizing  of  formal  rules  and  tables 
should  be  avoided. 

In  connection  with  the  exercises  in  false  syntax,  something 
must  be  said  about  the  attitude  of  some  teachers  toward  this 
kind  of  work.  It  is  said  that  students  ought  not  to  be  de- 
liberately presented  with  errors  of  speech  for  the  mere  pur- 
pose of  correcting  mistakes.  It  is  true  that  the  most  effective 
work  of  this  sort  is  in  connection  with  exercises  taken  from 
actual  mistakes  made  by  the  pupils  in  the  course  of  their 
composition  work.  Nevertheless,  practice  confined  to  this 
kind  of  work  is  not  sufficient,  and  it  is  necessary  to  look  for 
material  elsewhere.  To  confine  the  exercises  to  the  correc- 
tion of  disjointed  sentences  is  perhaps  bad,  too.  There  is 
abundant  material  in  everyday  letters  and  compositions  to 
supply  enough  illustrative  material  for  practice.  Among 
topics  that  should  be  emphasized  in  the  course  are  sequence 


Business  English  369 

of  tenses,  proper  use  of  the  infinitive  and  partidpi'?,  and  the 
position  of  adjective  and  adverbial  modifiers  in  the  sentence. 

As  for  rhetoric,  it  is  necessary  to  make  this  study  more 
practical  than  is  usually  done.  The  theoretical  discussion 
of  good  usage  and  the  principles  of  sentence  and  paragraph 
structure  is  not  enough,  because  such  a  theoretical  discus- 
sion is  not  sufficiently  related  to  the  demands  of  practical 
work.  Consequently,  it  has  been  maintained,  and  with  very 
good  reason,  that  the  practical  study  of  the  sentence  and 
paragraph  should  precede  the  study  of  words,  —  a  procedure 
which  reverses  that  of  the  ordinary  rhetoric,  which  begins 
with  words,  then  takes  sentences  and  paragraphs,  and  finishes 
with  the  composition.  Among  the  qualities  of  style,  we  shall 
have  to  emphasize  practically  the  qualities  of  clearness,  cor- 
rectness, and  unity.  These  are  the  essentials  of  good  style. 
Qualities  of  force  and  elegance,  while  important,  belong 
rather  to  the  luxuries  of  style,  and  are  more  valuable  for  the 
student  who  is  training  for  authorship  than  for  the  student 
who  is  merely  training  for  business  life.  It  must  be  admitted, 
however,  that  authorship  is  finding  its  place  even  in  business. 
Some  of  our  enterprising  advertising  concerns  have  been 
introducing  advertising  literature  of  high  literary  quality  — 
literature  that  is  almost  entitled  to  the  name. 

The  study  of  grammar  and  rhetoric,  to  sum  up,  then,  will 
be  conducted  entirely  in  the  interests  of  good  writing,  and 
not  as  a  study  for  its  own  sake.  We  must,  therefore,  consider 
some  of  the  forms  which  practical  training  in  composition 
and  language  work  will  take. 

FORMS    OF    COMPOSITION   AND   LANGUAGE    WORK 

(A)  Transcription.  This  form  may  hardly  be  put  under 
the  heading  of  composition  work.     It  has  its  place,  however, 


370     Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

to  a  limited  extent,  in  calling  the  attention  of  the  pupil  to 
conventional  forms  of  business  papers,  to  arrangements  of 
the  parts  of  a  document,  such  as  the  formal  parts  of  a  letter, 
and  to  characteristic  business  phrases.  One  form  of  tran- 
scription that  has  its  place,  however,  is  copying  from  rough 
draft.  The  typewritten  transcription  of  stenographic  notes 
is  one  form  of  practice  in  this  line,  but  even  the  rapid  dicta- 
tion of  business  forms  in  longhand  gives  the  desired  practice 
to  the  student  in  the  proper  placing  of  his  copy  on  the  paper. 

{B)  Language  Drill  Work  as  an  Aid  in  Composition.  This 
drill  work  may  be  conducted  in  connection  with  the  actual 
composition  lesson  or  apart  from  it  with  materials  chosen 
personally  from  the  composition  work  of  the  student.  Some 
of  the  forms  for  this  drill  work  will  take  the  following  shape  : 

(i)  Changing  grammatical  forms  of  noun  or  verb ;  for 
example,  changing  the  singular  into  a  plural,  a  present  into  a 
past,  and  all  the  other  corresponding  changes  in  the  sentence 
which  are  made  necessary  by  the  change  of  one  form. 

(2)  Supplying  missing  words.  This  is  a  good  drill  for 
students,  especially  where  two  or  three  alternative  expres- 
sions are  given  to  him  and  he  must  decide  which  one  of  the 
three  fits  appropriately  in  the  vacant  place  in  the  sentence. 

(3)  Substituting  synonyms  and  synonymous  words  for 
those  used.  This  is  a  valuable  method  for  enlarging  the  stu- 
dent's vocabulary.  A  valuable  aid  in  this  direction,  one  that 
authors  appreciate  very  highly,  is  a  book  like  Roget's  The- 
saurus, which  gives  not  only  synonyms,  but  related  expressions 
on  the  subject. 

(4)  Condensation.  The  art  of  condensation  is  very  im- 
portant to  the  business  man,  because  it  means,  in  many  cases, 
the  saving  of  money  and  time.  The  ability  to  condense  an 
important  thought  into  few  words,  without  making  it  difficult 


Business  English  371 

for  the  reader  to  grasp  it,  is  a  very  valuable  one,  particularly 
to  the  writer  of  advertisements.  Thus  persons  who  are  not 
skilled  in  condensation  find  it  difficult  to  compress  their 
thoughts  into  few  words  without  omitting  essential  elements, 
and  even  if  they  are  successful  in  crowding  everything  into  a 
brief  space,  they  make  the  thought  obscure.  Some  of  the 
more  modest  forms  of  condensation  upon  which  the  student 
can  try  his  skill,  as  a  preparation  for  the  more  important  work, 
are: 

a.  Combining  several  simple  sentences  into  compound  or 
complex  sentences,  and  compressing  clauses  into  phrases  or 
even  into  single  words. 

b.  Making  abstracts  or  summaries  of  paragraphs,  chapters, 
and  stories,  and  summarizing  a  thought  of  a  whole  story  into 
one  or  two  sentences.  The  condensation  of  a  circular  into  a 
small  advertisement,  or  the  condensation  of  a  letter  into  a 
single  telegram,  is  the  most  valuable  practical  application  of 
the  art  of  condensation. 

(5)  Amplification.  This  art  is  necessary,  as  well  as  the 
art  of  condensation.  Its  practical  value  arises  in  the  expan- 
sion of  a  topic  into  a  paragraph  and  an  outline  into  a  composi- 
tion. The  true  art  of  amplification  consists  in  the  ability  to 
expand  the  thought  in  such  a  way  as  to  make  each  sentence 
bear  upon  the  logical  development  of  the  thought,  and  as  to 
constitute  a  connected  whole,  which  has  unity.  The  business 
man  has  occasion  to  make  use  of  this  art  when  he  is  compelled 
to  develop  a  whole  composition  out  of  a  few  disjointed  or 
fragmentary  hints  given  to  him.  The  practical  use  of  the 
art  of  amplification  is  found  in  the  class  room  in  connection 
with  writing  compositions  from  outlines.  Almost  every 
assignment  of  a  task  in  composition  work  is  an  exercise  in 
amplification. 


372     Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

(C)  Reproduction.  Composition  work  may  be  divided 
into  two  classes :  reproduction  and  invention.  The  former 
is  based  upon  imitation  and  the  latter  upon  original  effort. 
In  a  large  sense,  the  element  of  originality  is  found  even  in 
reproduction,  just  as  the  element  of  imitation  is  found  in 
invention.  By  reproduction,  we  mean  the  imitation  of  a 
model  composition  by  reproducing  it  either  in  substance, 
or  producing  a  composition  along  similar  lines.  In  business, 
there  are  certain  standardized  forms  of  expression,  —  typical 
methods  of  developing  certain  topics,  —  that  must  be  mastered 
by  the  student  before  he  can  be  allowed  free  scope  to  exercise 
originahty.  A  student  who  disregards  business  forms  and 
expressions  and  uses  those  which  suit  his  taste  best,  is  almost 
as  bad  as  the  lawyer  who  tries  to  disregard  precedent.  The 
study  of  model  business  letters,  reports,  and  advertisements 
is,  therefore,  of  the  highest  value.  A  critical  analysis  of  models 
has  many  values :  (i)  It  gives  the  student  an  idea  and  an 
incentive  for  imitation. 

(2)  It  allows  him  to  see  in  its  complete  state  the  thing  which 
he  is  planning  to  do. 

(3)  It  gives  him  a  knowledge  as  to  the  proper  order  of  pro- 
cedure in  order  to  develop  a  certain  thought. 

(4)  It  increases  his  vocabulary  by  bringing  him  in  contact 
with  speech  that  is  better  and  fuller  than  his  own. 

(5)  It  adds  to  his  stock  of  ideas. 

(6)  It  gives  him  an  acquaintance,  that  is  indispensable, 
with  conventional  formal  phrases  and  usage  in  business. 

There  are,  of  course,  certain  dangers  that  are  connected 
with  the  use  of  models  ;  as,  for  example,  the  use  of  a  model  that 
is  beyond  the  level  of  the  pupil's  intelligence  or  experience. 
This  fault  will  be  avoided  if  the  composition  work  is  thor- 
oughly correlated  with  the  other  work  of  the  students.     A 


Business  English  373 

second  danger  in  the  use  of  models  is  in  the  effect  it  may  have 
upon  checking  the  spontaneity  of  the  student's  expression. 
In  the  early  stages  of  development,  this  danger  is  negligible, 
and  if  care  is  taken  to  have  the  student  write  upon  lines  parallel 
with  the  model  instead  of  identical  with  it,  this  danger  will 
be  avoided. 

In  regard  to  the  proper  use  of  the  model,  it  is  sometimes 
said  that  it  should  be  introduced  only  after  the  student  feels 
the  need  for  such  a  model.  For  example,  if  the  student  is 
asked  to  write  a  composition  on  a  certain  topic  without 
any  other  aid,  and  his  effort  is  compared  with  the  model 
which  is  introduced  then,  an  appreciation  of  the  value  of  the 
model  will  be  very  much  keener  than  it  would  be  if  the  model 
were  introduced  at  the  very  start.  There  is  something  to  be 
said  in  favor  of  this.  The  only  difficulty  is  that  some  stu- 
dents will  exert  no  effort  whatever,  unless  they  have  some 
hint  of  procedure  at  the  very  start,  and  this  they  get  when 
the  model  is  presented  to  them. 

(D)  Invention.  The  work  in  original  composition  is 
built  upon  the  foundation  laid  by  reproduction.  In  a  sense, 
there  is  no  such  thing  as  absolutely  original  effort  in  composi- 
tion, especially  in  business  composition.  While  the  student 
will  be  writing  original  letters,  reports,  circulars,  and  adver- 
tisements in  connection  with  the  needs  of  his  work,  neverthe- 
less, he  will  be  making  use  extensively  of  phrases  and  forms 
borrowed  to  a  large  extent  from  the  models  which  he  has 
studied. 

Aids  in  Composition.  The  Outline.  —  In  the  presentation  of 
topics  for  composition,  the  question  arises  as  to  the  extent  to 
which  the  teacher  is  to  aid  in  the  development  of  the  topic. 
This  leads  us  to  the  consideration  of  the  outline.  The  value 
of  an  outline  in  any  composition  consists  of  the  fact  that  it 


374     Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

gives  the  pupil  a  plan  of  his  work  and  thus  frees  him  largely 
from  the  necessity  of  planning  and  executing  it  at  the  same 
time.  It  is  therefore  of  psychological  value,  as  it  gives  the 
pupil  only  one  thing  to  do  at  a  time,  makes  the  sequence  of 
his  thought  logical,  and  gives  him  confidence.  The  objec- 
tions to  the  use  of  the  outline  are  that  it  weakens  the  power 
of  originality  and  sustained  thought  by  guiding  pupils  along 
a  certain  groove ;  that  it  makes  the  composition  seem  stilted 
and  lacking  in  spontaneity,  and  that  it  checks  variety  of  expres- 
sion by  making  the  sentences  appear  as  answers  to  questions. 
These  are  objections  that  are  all  true,  if  the  outline  is  not 
properly  used.  They  may  be  obviated  in  the  following  ways : 
(i)  The  outline  may  be  developed  from  the  model  by  ques- 
tioning the  pupils  and  letting  them  suggest  the  sequence  of 
the  topics,  or  by  questioning  the  pupils  without  the  model, 
by  asking  them  what  sequence  they  would  naturally  expect. 
Thus  the  outline  will  develop  as  a  result  of  cooperation  of 
the  teacher  and  the  class ;  and  it  will  not  check  spontaneity 
but  rather  reenforce  it. 

(2)  If  the  outline  is  not  excessive  in  detail,  and  if  it  is  in 
the  form  of  headings  rather  than  interrogative  sentences, 
freedom  of  expression  will  be  preserved. 

(3)  Variety  of  expression  can  be  secured  by  a  preliminary 
oral  discussion  of  the  topics  in  the  outline,  in  which  different 
pupils  are  asked  to  give  their  amplifi.cation  of  the  topic.  This 
is  one  of  the  valuable  features  of  the  outline,  in  that  it  allows 
opportunity  for  oral  composition  which  in  almost  all  cases 
should  precede  the  written  composition. 

(4)  In  advanced  classes,  occasional  compositions  should  be 
written  without  the  aid  of  any  formal  outline,  but  even  in 
these  compositions,  the  pupil  should  make  his  own  outline 
preliminary  to  writing  the  composition  in  detail. 


Business  English  375 

(5)  The  writing  of  skeleton  compositions  by  pupils  is  good 
logical  training.  It  is  an  essential  preliminary  to  the  writing 
of  any  long  composition.  The  brief  is  a  good  example  of 
such  a  skeleton  composition. 

LETTER- WRITING 

This  is  such  an  important  phase  of  composition  work  for 
the  business  student  that  we  give  a  little  more  extended 
treatment  to  it. 

The  formal  parts  of  a  letter,  and  the  spacing,  spelling,  and 
punctuation  of  these  formal  parts,  are  of  such  great  importance 
that  special  attention  should  be  given  to  them.  The  busi- 
ness man  is  apt  to  disregard  or  depreciate  any  letter  of  appli- 
cation that  comes  to  him,  no  matter  how  meritorious,  if  it 
lacks  perfect  accuracy  in  those  parts.  But  in  teaching  pupils 
accuracy  in  the  formal  parts  of  a  letter,  it  may  be  advisable 
to  give  them  practice  in  writing  skeleton  letters.  By  these 
we  mean  letters  in  which  the  body  is  left  out  entirely,  but 
in  which  the  formal  parts  are  in  their  correct  position.  In 
the  teaching  of  the  business  letter  the  student  should  be 
taught  how  to  analyze  the  model  and  use  the  outline,  which 
gives  the  sequence  of  development  of  topics.  At  first  the 
letters  may  be  analyzed  by  the  teacher  in  cooperation  with 
the  class ;  and  afterwards  by  the  class,  without  the  assistance 
of  the  teacher.  The  aim  should  be  to  train  the  pupils  to 
know  the  topics  that  should  be  included  in  a  business  letter 
upon  a  particular  subject,  and  the  sequence  in  which  those 
topics  should  be  developed. 

In  the  earlier  stages  of  the  course  in  letter-writing,  where 
oral  composition  is  a  necessary  preliminary  to  the  writing  of 
the  letter,  the  outline  forms  an  ideal  basis  for  oral  discussion, 
especially  so  in  training  the  pupils  in  variety  of  expression. 


376     Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

One  pupil  will  give  his  form  of  introduction,  another  pupil 
will  vary  it,  and  thus  good  training  in  variety  of  expression 
will  be  furnished;  for  while  there  are  certain  stereotyped 
expressions  in  business  letters,  there  is  still  enough  oppor- 
tunity for  variety  and  originality.  In  the  advanced  work, 
the  pupils  should  make  their  own  outline.  It  may  be  advis- 
able to  let  the  advanced  students  make  mental  outlines  of 
letters,  so  as  to  give  them  training  in  writing  good  letters  on 
first  draft,  without  the  necessity  of  recasting  or  rewriting  the 
whole  letter. 

The  following  is  an  illustration  of  the  kind  of  outline  re- 
ferred to  in  the  preceding  paragraph,  using,  as  an  illustration, 
a  letter  of  application  for  a  position. 

1.  How  applicant  learned  of  the  vacancy. 

2.  Qualifications,  education,  and  profession,  including  age, 
experience,  place  of  present  and  past  employment. 

3.  References  as  to  character  and  ability. 

4.  Salary  requested  and  statement  as  to  prospects  of 
advancement. 

5.  Applicant's  request  for  an  opportunity  for  a  personal 
interview. 

Classification  of  Letters  and  Order  in  which  Letters  are  to  be 
Introduced.  —  The  development  of  the  course  in  letter-writing 
should  be  from  the  simple  to  the  complex.  Those  letters 
which  deal  with  a  single  topic  should  come  first.  The  classi- 
fication that  follows  is,  therefore,  upon  the  basis  of  the  order 
of  introduction  of  the  letter  in  the  course,  and  is  based  not 
only  upon  consideration  of  the  development  from  the  easy 
to  the  more  difficult,  but  upon  consideration  of  the  needs  of 
the  student. 

1.  Letter  ordering  goods. 

2.  Letter  of  inquiry. 


Business  English  377 

3.  Letter  of  acknowledgment  (receipt). 

4.  Letter  asking  for  remittance  of  bill  due. 

5.  Letter  of  application  for  a  position. 

6.  Letter  of  recommendation. 

7.  Letter  of  complaint. 

8.  Letter  of  introduction. 

9.  Circular  letter  making  an  announcement,  or  offering 
something  for  sale. 

In  this  connection  it  must  be  remembered  that  the  course  in 
letter-writing  may  follow  an  order  slightly  differing  from  the 
above,  a  kind  of  spiral  form  ;  that  is,  some  of  the  earlier  forms  of 
letters  will  be  written  a  second  time  but  with  more  complex 
factors  in  them.  For  example,  a  letter  asking  for  a  remittance  of 
a  bill  may  be  very  simple  in  its  nature,  but  when  it  is  connected 
with  the  topic  of  dunning  letters,  it  involves  a  number  of 
complex  considerations,  together  with  a  discussion  of  business 
ethics.  It  therefore  belongs  more  properly  to  the  advanced 
parts  of  the  work.  Similarly,  the  letters  of  recommendation 
may  give  rise  to  a  series  of  such  letters  as,  for  example,  a  con- 
fidential inquiry  as  to  the  character  of  an  applicant  on  the 
part  of  the  new  employer,  and  the  reply  of  the  latter.  Here 
a  good  question  of  business  ethics  and  even  of  law  arises. 
These  questions  point  to  the  fact  that  the  course  in  business 
correspondence  cannot  be  isolated  from  the  rest  of  the  busi- 
ness course ;  that  it  involves  the  treatment  of  business  prac- 
tice, etiquette,  and  law  ;  and  that  the  correlation  of  the  course 
in  business  correspondence  with  the  other  topics  will  make 
it  more  vital  and  an  integral  part  of  the  real  business  course. 

WRITING   OF   REPORTS   AND   ADVERTISEMENTS 

The  need  for  reports,  both  oral  and  written,  as  a  necessary 
part  of  business   training  is  perfectly  evident.      Technical 


378     Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

reports  in  the  form  of  financial  statements  are,  of  course, 
not  connected  with  the  English  course,  but  the  clear  analysis 
and  application  of  a  report  in  language  is  clearly  a  matter  of 
English.  Since  it  is  better  not  to  isolate  the  substance  of  the 
technical  report  from  its  language,  the  matter  of  clearness  of 
expression  and  logical  sequence  of  such  a  report  may  be  left 
to  the  accounting  department.  But  the  study  of  reports, 
of  succinct  statements  of  happenings,  of  the  presentation  of 
needs  for  the  coming  year,  of  the  statement  of  work  accom- 
plished, of  the  forecast  of  future  conditions,  —  most  of  these 
matters  in  their  more  elementary  forms, — maybe  conveniently 
taken  up  in  the  last  year  of  the  secondary  school  course.  The 
successful  making  of  a  report  depends  upon  the  study  of  good 
models.  For  this  reason,  the  study  of  trade  journals  and 
trade  reports  will  be  of  very  great  help.  Model  reports  on 
simple  occurrences  of  facts  may  be  found  in  the  daily  papers. 
In  fact,  the  newspaper  reporter  is  the  specialist  in  making 
reports.  The  study,  therefore,  of  newspaper  articles,  the 
reproduction  of  these,  and  the  writing  of  independent  news 
reports  on  items  connected  with  happenings  in  the  school  — 
this  kind  of  work  is  a  valuable  training  in  the  writing  of, trade 
reports.  We  saw,  in  another  chapter,  the  trade  journals  and 
magazines  which  we  consider  it  advisable  for  the  teacher  in 
secondary  schools  to  possess.  The  specialization  along  defi- 
nite lines,  however,  is  out  of  place  in  the  secondary  school, 
and  must  be  reserved  for  the  university. 

The  ability  to  write  advertisements  is  a  valuable  accom- 
pHshment,  because  of  the  necessity  which  every  business 
man  now  and  then  is  confronted  with  in  the  way  of  writing  of 
routine  advertisements.  The  more  elaborate  form  of  adver- 
tising has  to  be  left  to  a  special  course,  because  it  involves 
special  training,  but  the  simpler  forms  of  advertisement  writing 


Business  English  379 

should  be  taught  to  the  student  in  the  English  course.  The 
principles  of  advertising,  which  are  discussed  to  some  extent 
in  the  course  on  the  Technique  of  Commerce,  may  be  reviewed 
in  the  English  course.  The  writing  of  illustrated  advertise- 
ments or  cards,  so  common  in  our  street-cars,  is  a  matter  that 
is  outside  of  the  scope  of  the  English  department.  The 
department  of  drawing  will  occupy  itself  with  the  artistic 
phase  of  the  work,  and  will  also  incidentally  discuss  the  de- 
scriptive matter  that  should  accompany  the  illustration,  the 
most  effective  condensation  of  such  descriptive  matter, 
and  the  most  suitable  placing  of  it  on  the  card. 

CORRECTION   OF   COMPOSITION   WORK 

The  leading  principle  which  should  govern  us  in  correcting 
compositions  of  students  is  that  mistakes  corrected  by  pupils 
themselves  are  more  effectively  brought  home  to  them  than 
if  they  were  corrected  by  the  teacher.  Hence,  pupils  should 
be  taught  how  to  correct  their  own  compositions,  because  in 
this  way  a  greater  exercise  of  self-activity  on  their  part  will 
be  called  for,  the  critical  power  of  the  pupil  will  be  developed, 
and  habits  of  care  and  improvements  of  standards  will  result. 

Two  extremes  are  to  be  avoided  in  the  correction  of  com- 
positions. 

1.  Telling  pupils  how  to  correct  their  own  compositions 
without  giving  them  any  other  aid,  and 

2.  Correcting  the  compositions  for  them. 

Pupils  should  be  given  some  cue  which  will  suggest  to  them 
where  the  error  is.     This  may  be  of  various  forms  : 

1.  By  pointing  out  the  error  to  them  without  telling  the 
correction ; 

2.  By  letting  them  find  their  own  error  by  localizing  it, 
that  is,  by  telling  them  approximately  where  it  is  contained ; 


380    Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

3.  By  asking  them  questions  which  will  direct  them  to  the 
erroneously  constructed  word  or  sentence,  and  which  by.  com- 
parison will  lead  them  to  see  their  own  error.  If  the  teacher 
himself  makes  the  correction,  as  in  a  complicated  construc- 
tion, the  pupil  should  be  asked  to  give  the  reason. 

In  the  correction  of  compositions  in  the  course  in  Business 
English  purist  standards  should,  to  a  certain  extent,  be  kept 
in  view.  The  reason  for  this  is  that  there  is  a  marked  increase 
of  carelessness  in  usage  on  the  part  of  the  business  man. 
Students  will  use  a  loose  construction  or  an  abbreviated  sen- 
tence, and  defend  themselves  on  the  ground  that  they  have 
seen  business  men  use  such  a  form.  The  only  way  to  counter- 
act such  a  growing  laxity  is  to  insist  upon  a  reasonably  rigid 
standard.  Of  course,  to  create  censoriousness  has  a  bad  effect 
in  checking  the  spontaneity  and  imagination  of  the  pupils, 
but  this  will  follow  only  if  the  writing  and  the  criticism  of 
the  work  occur  in  the  same  lesson.  The  correction  of  a 
composition  should  be  in  a  lesson  separate  from  the  writing  of 
it,  because  then  the  pupil  will  not  be  self-conscious  in  the 
production  of  his  work,  and  will  approach  the  task  of  correc- 
tion with  a  fresh  mind.  If  he  tries  to  correct  the  errors  while 
his  mind  is  still  on  the  topic  which  he  is  writing,  many  errors 
will  escape  him. 

Since  it  is  our  purpose  to  teach  pupils  how  to  correct  their 
own  compositions,  we  must  let  them  do  so  under  proper  direc- 
tion. The  critical  power  is  best  aroused  if  the  mind  is  focused 
on  one  difficulty,  hence  the  advantage  of  reading  the  whole 
composition  for  one  type  of  error  at  a  time.  For  example, 
the  whole  composition  will  be  read, 

1.  For  spelling,  capitalization,  and  punctuation. 

2.  For  simple  grammatical  mistakes,  such  as  agreement  of 
subject  and  predicate. 


Business  English  381 

3.  For  the  larger  aspects  of  construction. 

4.  For  deciding  whether  pupils  have  followed  up  their 
outline. 

5.  For  seeing  whether  the  paragraphing  is  correct. 

6.  For  improving  sentence  structure  by  changing  from  com- 
pound to  complex  sentences,  etc. 

An  additional  means  of  developing  critical  power  is  to  give 
pupils  occasional  opportunity  to  correct  their  neighbors' 
compositions,  because  one  sees  his  own  fault  in  his  neighbor 
quicker  than  in  himself.  Pupils  should  indicate  the  supposed 
fault  of  the  neighbors  in  the  margin,  and  a  system  of  proof- 
readers' marks  should  be  used  for  this  purpose.  Proof-read- 
ing is  one  of  the  forms  of  correction  which  should  be  culti- 
vated. The  business  man  has  constant  opportunity  to  read 
printers' proofs,  and  he  ought  therefore  to  be  trained  in  methods 
of  reading  proof,  and  in  the  proper  way  of  indicating  and  in- 
terpreting proof-readers'  marks. 

SUMMARY 

The  course  in  Business  English  should  be  given  by  the  Eng- 
lish department,  and  not  by  the  commercial  department. 
The  aim  of  the  course  is  to  give  the  student  the  ability  to  use 
English  clearly,  accurately,  and  forcibly,  both  orally  and  in 
writing ;  and  the  teaching  of  composition  in  its  application 
to  business  is  the  central  aim  of  the  course. 

Correct  spelling  and  a  good  vocabulary  are  the  formal 
prerequisites  of  composition.  Grammar  and  rhetoric,  both 
studied  practically,  are  of  value  because  they  give  the  stu- 
dent correct  standards  and  because  they  sharpen  his  critical 
faculties. 

Among  the  forms  of  composition  and  language  work  are : 
(a)  transcription ;    {b)  language  drill  work  in  changing  gram- 


382     Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

matical  forms,  supplying  missing  words,  practical  use  of 
synonyms,  condensation  and  amplification ;  (c)  reproduction 
of  model  forms ;  {d)  writing  of  original  compositions.  The 
model  and  the  outline  are  valuable  aids  in  composition  work. 
Uses  and  limitations  of  both  are  mentioned  in  the  text. 
Letter-writing  is  the  most  practical  form  of  composition  work. 
The  formal  parts  of  the  letter  should  receive  special  attention. 
To  obtain  the  best  results,  students  should  analyze  model 
letters,  and  make  outlines  to  aid  them  in  writing  their  own 
letters.  The  development  of  the  course  in  letter-writing 
should  be  from  the  simple  to  the  complex. 

The  writing  of  ordinary  reports  and  advertisements  belongs 
to  the  English  course.  Technical  reports  belong  more  appro- 
priately to  the  department  with  which  they  are  connected. 

The  leading  principle  which  should  govern  us  in  correction 
of  compositions  is  that  pupils  ought  to  be  taught  how  to  cor- 
rect their  own  work. 

EXERCISES 
GROUP  ONE 

1 .  Why  should  Business  English  be  oflfered  by  the  English  department 
rather  than  by  the  commercial  department  ? 

2.  How  does  Business  English  differ  from  the  ordinary  work  in  Eng- 
lish? 

3.  What  is  the  place  of  grammar  and  rhetoric  in  the  English  course  of 
the  commercial  high  school  ? 

4.  Explain  the  importance  of  writing  reports  and  summaries  as  a 
part  of  the  training  of  commercial  pupils. 

5.  What  is  the  function  of  the  outline  in  composition  work  ? 

6.  How  should  spelling  be  taught  in  the  commercial  high  school  ? 

7.  Outline  a  lesson  on  answering  an  advertisement  for  a  position 
as  bookkeeper  and  stenographer. 


Business  English  383 

GROUP  TWO 

1 .  Plan  a  series  of  lectures  on  business  topics  so  as  to  help  teachers  of 
English  in  a  commercial  high  school. 

2.  Outline  instructions  to  the  English  teachers  of  a  business  high 
school,  which  will  guide  them  in  (a)  the  emphasis  on  business  topics  for 
composition  work,  and  (b)  the  selection  of  articles  having  a  commercial 
value  for  purposes  of  making  abstracts. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY  ^ 

Altmaier,  K.  L.,  Commercial  Correspondence  and  Postal  Information. 

New  York,  Macmillan  Co.,  1913. 
Belding,  a.  G.,  Commercial  Correspondence.    New  York,  Amer.  Book 

Co.,  1905. 
Chubb,  P.,  Teaching  of  English.     New  York,  Macmillan  Co.,  1902. 
C0DY,S.,  Business  English  — What?    Why?    How?    New  York,  N.  E.  A. 

Report,  191 1,  p.  839. 
Effinger-Raymond,  F.,  //  /  were  a  Teacher  of  English.    N.   E.   A. 

Report,  1913,  p.  621. 
Opdycke,  J.  B.,  Elements  of  Composition.    New  York,  Appleton  &  Co., 

1913- 
News,  Ads,  and  Sales.     New  York,  Macmillan  Co.,  19 14. 
Shawcross,  W.,  Manual  of  Commercial  English.    London,  Pitman  & 
Sons. 

1  References  to  text-books  in  grammar,  rhetoric,  and  composition  are  omitted. 


CHAPTER  XIV 

Stenography  and  Typewriting 
stenography 

We  should  have  been  inclined  to  omit  the  treatment  of  this 
subject  in  this  work,  because  it  is  a  large  subject  that  deserves 
a  separate  treatise.  But  as  many  teachers  of  commercial 
subjects  find  themselves  under  the  necessity  of  including  the 
teaching  of  stenography  as  a  part  of  their  work,  it  is  advisable 
to  include  a  brief  account  of  certain  pedagogic  phases  of  this 
subject. 

Educational  Value.  (A)  Practical  Value.  —  This  phase  of 
the  subject  was  discussed  in  the  first  chapter.  It  will  only  be 
necessary,  therefore,  to  summarize  certain  points  here. 

(i)  Its  utility  as  a  time  saver  to  the  executive,  who  can  use 
the  time  thus  saved  in  solving  the  larger  problems  that  arise 
in  a  business. 

(2)  Its  value  as  an  aid  to  clerical  efficiency  by  increasing 
many  times  the  amount  of  work  turned  out. 

(3)  Its  value  in  preserving  accurately,  certain  records,  such 
as  those  of  trials,  of  speeches,  and  of  literary  effort. 

The  power  which  the  subject  requires  and  which  the  teacher 
should  cultivate  in  connection  with  the  teaching  of  the  sub- 
ject should  also  be  considered  here,  because  a  regard  for  this 
phase  of  the  subject  will  influence  methods  of  teaching  to  a  great 
extent. 

(B)  Disciplinary.  —  (i)  The  development  of  the  power  of 
concentration.    This  is  a  very  essential  prerequisite  for  all  good 

384 


Stenography  and  Typewriting  385 

work.  Attentiveness  and  alertness  can  only  be  developed  by- 
eliminating  as  far  as  possible  all  distracting  elements  in  the 
early  stages  of  teaching.  It  is  very  true  that  in  an  office  the 
dictation  which  the  stenographer  receives  is  given  under  condi- 
tions which  are  anything  but  favorable  to  concentration,  but 
if  the  habit  of  concentration  has  been  formed  in  the  appren- 
ticeship period,  the  power  to  disregard  those  distracting 
elements  will  be  developed. 

(2)  Control  of  the  mind  over  the  muscles  and  responsiveness 
of  the  hand  to  the  command  of  the  brain.  This  can  be  de- 
veloped only  by  practice.  Accuracy  and  speed  are  matters 
of  habit,  and  the  principles  to  be  observed  in  habit  formation  as 
they  have  been  discussed  in  Chapter  III  will  have  to  be  taken 
into  consideration  in  such  development. 

(3)  The  development  of  habits  of  accuracy  and  neatness, 
especially  in  connection  with  typewriting,  is  again  a  matter  of 
practice.  Any  overlooking  of  faults,  failure  to  "  prevent 
exceptions,"  will  result  in  destroying  the  fruits  of  previous 
training. 

(4)  The  development  of  the  sense  of  responsibility.  The 
sense  of  responsibility  cannot  be  cultivated  by  mere  theorizing 
about  it  or  lecturing  to  the  students  about  it,  although  a  lecture 
as  a  supplement  to  training  is  a  valuable  thing.  The  oppor- 
tunities for  training  in  responsibility  exist  in  every  subject 
in  the  curriculum.  What  special  opportunities  does  this 
subject  offer  in  training  pupils  to  a  sense  of  self-reliance? 
We  find  a  common  complaint  in  the  business  world  that  stenog- 
raphers are  not  properly  trained,  that  they  lack  initiative,  that 
their  work  is  merely  mechanical.  It  is  possible  to  arrange  the 
work  in  a  school  in  such  a  way  as  to  give  an  opportunity  for  the 
exercise  of  initiative.  A  course  which  confines  itself  to  mere 
dictation  and  mechanical  reproduction  is  not  sufficient  in  itself 


386     Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

for  the  purpose  of  developing  self-reliance.  There  are  oppor- 
tunities for  the  teacher  to  dictate  an  outline  in  stenography 
and  then  require  the  student  to  transcribe  the  outUne  in  narra- 
tive form.  Another  opportunity  for  initiative  is  to  allow 
students  to  dictate  letters  of  their  own  composition  to  other 
pupils ;  and  still  another  to  ask  the  student  to  write  letters 
of  their  own  composition,  merely  assigning  to  them  the  topic 
with  which  the  letter  is  to  deal.  Thus,  it  ought  not  to  be  neces- 
sary in  an  office  for  the  executive  to  be  compelled  to  dictate 
routine  letters  to  the  stenographer.  This  training,  therefore, 
is  valuable  in  teaching  the  pupil  how  to  take  care  of  these 
routine  matters  upon  his  own  initiative,  when  he  enters  busi- 
ness. 

Quickness  of  judgment  to  a  very  high  degree  is  required 
of  the  stenographer.  Outlines  or  abbreviations  have  to  be 
taught,  that  will  express  a  certain  idea  in  the  shortest  way,  and 
still  be  legible ;  and  this  has  to  be  done  instantly.  This 
training  is  again  a  matter  of  habit  formation.  The  more 
common  difficulties  are  relegated  to  the  automatism  of  habit, 
and  the  unusual  problems  which  come  up  in  the  course  of  dic- 
tation are  therefore  taken  care  of  by  the  mind  with  very  little 
difficulty. 

(5)  Development  of  imagination  and  judgment.  The 
stenographer  needs  this  power  particularly  in  the  reading  of 
shorthand  notes.  The  context  must  be  reproduced  from 
notes,  in  which  the  omission  of  vowels  and  the  use  of  con- 
tractions leave  something  to  the  imagination.  Memory  can- 
not always  be  relied  upon  to  help  in  this  case.  If  the  ste- 
nographer has  not  sufficient  culture,  his  imagination  will  have 
no  scope  for  activity,  and  he  will  be  hampered  in  reproducing 
the  notes  which  are  outside  of  the  regular  business  routine. 
The  deficiency  in  the  preliminary  education  of  a  stenographer 


Stenography  and  Typewriting  387 

is,  of  course,  beyond  the  remedy  of  the  special  teacher. 
The  judgment  is  exercised  in  the  quickness  of  decision  which 
the  stenographer  must  make  in  the  writing  of  outHnes,  so  that 
these  are  correct  applications  of  principle,  well  constructed 
and  legible.  In  the  choosing  of  phrases  best  suited  to  the  kind 
of  dictation,  good  judgment  is  also  required. 

(C)  Value  in  Correlation  with  Other  Subjects.  —  (i)  It  helps 
a  student  in  his  English,  because  the  transcription  must  be 
accurate,  both  in  spelling  and  grammar.  It  is  the  duty  of 
the  shorthand  teacher  to  consider  the  correction  of  bad  Eng- 
lish within  his  province.  No  subject  teacher  has  any  right  to 
shift  responsibility  for  mistakes  in  English  upon  another  de- 
partment, and  this  is  particularly  true  of  the  teacher  in 
stenography.  Where  such  teacher  finds  that  the  mistakes  are 
very  prevalent,  it  is  his  duty  to  confer  with  the  teacher  of 
English,  to  see  in  what  way  the  fault  can  be  remedied.  Occa- 
sional spelling  drills  given  by  the  teacher  in  stenography  will 
not  take  much  time  and  will  be  very  useful.  The  teacher  will, 
of  course,  select  words  which  are  commonly  used  in  business. 
It  may  also  be  well,  occasionally,  to  consider  common  errors 
of  speech  without  regard  to  the  fact  that  such  subjects  are 
taken  up  in  another  department. 

(2)  As  the  usual  systems  of  shorthand  are  phonetic,  it 
might  be  thought,  theoretically,  that  phonography  would 
interfere  with  the  spelling  of  the  pupils.  But  practical  expe- 
rience has  shown  that  this  is  not  so.  The  transcription  of  the 
notes  on  the  typewriter  necessitates  correct  spelling,  and  there- 
fore acts  as  an  antidote  to  any  possibility  of  phonetic  spelling 
in  longhand.  It  may  be  said,  incidentally,  that  phonetic 
written  spelling  of  a  word,  in  order  to  emphasize  the  phonetic 
nature  of  the  usual  systems  of  shorthand,  is  to  be  condemned 
precisely  because  it  will  interfere  with  the  visual  impression 


388     Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

of  the  word,  and  therefore  hinder  the  pupil's  correct  spelHng. 
On  the  other  hand,  oral  phonetic  spelling,  in  order  to  emphasize 
the  fact  that  silent  letters  are  not  written  in  shorthand,  is  of 
great  value,  and  has  none  of  the  disadvantages  that  written 
phonetic  longhand  spelling  has. 

(3)  Stenography  gives  the  pupil  a  practical  knowledge  of 
business  routine  and  business  forms.  The  course  in  office 
practice  ought  to  be  connected  with  the  department  of  ste- 
nography and  typewriting.  Since  stenography  will  principally 
be  used  in  commercial  work,  it  is,  of  course,  very  desirable  that 
the  bulk  of  dictation  shall  be  in  the  form  of  business  letters. 
On  the  other  hand,  there  are  other  forms  of  stenographic 
work  which  the  student  will  have  to  perform  in  business,  such 
as  the  filling  out  of  forms,  the  writing  of  legal  papers,  the 
making  of  reports,  etc.  Practice  in  this  form  of  dictation 
should  therefore  be  given  to  the  student.  Correlation  of  the 
dictation  work  with  business  routine  will  have  the  incidental 
advantage  that  in  practising  for  the  sake  of  technical  pro- 
ficiency the  student  will  at  the  same  time  learn  a  great  deal 
about  business  procedure. 

(4)  Stenography  trains  the  pupil's  ear  by  emphasizing  the 
correct  pronunciation  and  the  correct  accent  of  words.  It 
consequently  improves  his  pronunciation.  We  are  apt  to 
take  for  granted  that  the  student  knows  how  to  pronounce 
correctly  the  words  he  is  going  to  write,  and  that  he  has  the 
proper  conception  of  sound  values.  With  this  idea  in  view, 
we  begin  our  course  by  plunging  right  into  the  intricacies  of 
technical  shorthand.  This  is  a  mistake.  One  or  two  in- 
troductory lessons  should  be  devoted  to  ear  training,  and 
at  the  beginning  of  each  lesson,  in  the  early  stages  of  the 
work,  a  little  time  devoted  to  a  pronunciation  drill  will  be 
profitable. 


Stenography  and  Typewriting  389 

Aims  of  the  Teacher.  —  In  the  narrow  or  technical  sense, 
these  aims  may  be  briefly  stated  as  follows : 

(i)  To  impart  correct  principles  of  the  system  taught. 

(2)  To  enable  the  student  to  apply  these  in  writing  short- 
hand legibly  and  rapidly.  In  giving  our  illustration  in  con- 
nection with  methods,  we  shall  have  reference  to  the  Pitmanic 
systems.  We  do  so  merely  for  the  sake  of  convenience,  and 
not  because  we  are  pronouncing  an  opinion  on  the  advantages 
of  one  system  over  another.  However,  this  point  is  immaterial, 
because  the  principles  of  teaching  to  be  discussed  are  the 
same,  no  matter  what  the  system  is. 

Teaching  Methods.  —  The  general  principles  which  will 
govern  the  teacher  in  his  methods,  we  must  repeat,  are  the 
principles  of  self-activity  and  habit  formation.  Specifically, 
we  may  illustrate  some  of  the  points  in  connection  with 
correct  method,  by  pointing  out  some  of  the  faults  which  are 
found  in  connection  with  the  teaching  of  stenography. 

{A)  Faults  of  Method.  —  (i)  The  principles  are  all  taught  be- 
fore any  attempt  is  made  to  give  dictation.  This  is  a  violation 
of  all  sound  principles  of  teaching.  It  is  like  trying  to  make  a 
mechanic  by  means  of  a  series  of  lectures  on  a  trade  without 
giving  him  any  practice.  It  is  impossible  for  the  student  to 
digest  the  principles  that  are  thrown  at  him  in  a  great  heap. 
It  is  all  very  well  to  say  that  the  principles  of  stenography  are 
clear,  but  the  aim  in  teaching  shorthand  is  not  so  much  to  give 
the  student  an  intelligent  knowledge  of  the  principles,  but  to 
give  him  the  ability  to  use  them  efficiently.  This  is  a  matter  of 
practice.  Each  rule  taught  should  be  drilled  upon  until  a 
knowledge  of  it  is  second  nature  with  the  student.  Our  best 
text-books  to-day  begin  with  dictation  almost  in  the  very  first 
lesson.  The  advantage  of  this  method  is  twofold.  First, 
it  gives  a  chance  to  the  pupil  to  digest  the  principles  by  drilHng 


390     Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

upon  their  use ;  secondly,  it  gives  him  the  interest  in  the  sub- 
ject by  making  him  reahze  that  he  is  writing  shorthand  at  the 
very  start. 

(2)  Some  teachers  who  avoid  the  fault  of  postponing  dicta- 
tion to  the  very  end  still  make  the  mistake  of  including  too 
many  rules  and  exceptions  in  the  same  lesson.  The  correct 
principle  is  that  one  rule  at  a  time  should  be  presented  and 
drilled  on  before  another  one  is  given.  Thus,  it  may  be  well 
to  present  the  rule  without  any  exceptions,  drill  on  it,  and  then 
introduce  exceptions. 

(3)  An  almost  universal  fault  is  that  of  introducing  a  prin- 
ciple without  making  the  student  see  the  reason  of  the  necessity 
for  it.  This  point  was  mentioned  in  Chapter  III  in  connection 
with  purpose  or  motivation  in  teaching.  The  inventor  of 
shorthand  had  many  reasons  for  adopting  certain  devices. 
How  much  more  enlightening  it  is  to  the  student  to  be  put  in 
the  attitude  of  the  mind  of  the  inventor  of  shorthand,  who  felt 
impelled  by  certain  reasons  to  adopt  a  certain  device,  than  to 
have  the  device  thrown  at  him  as  a  mere  fiat ! 

While  the  method  of  induction,  as  we  have  seen,  is  not,  in 
its  strict  form,  applicable  to  the  teaching  of  shorthand,  a 
certain  modified  form  of  it  which  embodies  the  principle  of 
going  from  the  illustration  to  the  rule  has  its  place  in  ste- 
nography. We  may  illustrate  this  by  a  lesson  on  the  s  circle 
in  the  Pitmanic  systems. 

(a)  A  number  of  words  containing  5  are  dictated ;  pupils 
write  them,  using  the  long  s,  because  they  know  no  other. 

{h)  Their  attention  is  called  to  the  frequent  occurrence  of 
s  in  the  language.  This  leads  them  to  consider  how  much 
time  could  be  saved  by  a  shorter  form  for  s. 

{c)  The  students  having  realized  this  necessity,  the  circle 
is  now  introduced  by  the  teacher  and  some  of  the  outlines 


Stenography  and  Typewriting  391 

written  before  in  the  long  form  are  written  on  the  board  by 
the  teacher  in  the  shorter  form. 

(d)  The  students  write  these  outlines,  together  with  others 
of  the  same  kind,  from  dictation. 

(e)  The  difficulties  of  using  the  circle  in  words  beginning 
with  a  vowel  followed  by  an  j  are  shown,  and  the  first  excep- 
tion to  the  use  of  the  s  circle  is  therefore  noted.  At  this 
point  the  teacher  dictates  matter  containing  words  in  which 
the  5  circle  may  be  used  and  those  in  which  the  5  circle  is  not 
permissible. 

(/)  The  last  step  involves  the  dictation  of  a  connected  pas- 
sage in  which  there  are  not  only  words  embodying  the  prin- 
ciple taught,  but  words  embodying  principles  previously 
studied. 

(4)  In  the  dictation  of  the  connected  passage,  the  teacher 
is  apt  to  sacrifice  good  English  for  the  sake  of  giving  many 
appUcations  of  the  principle.  This  is  one  of  the  most  char- 
acteristic faults  of  the  shorthand  text.  The  passages  are  in 
bad  and  meaningless  English.  We  may  state  as  a  general 
rule,  that  passages  dictated  should  always  be  in  good  English, 
and  preferably  should  deal  with  business.  This  advice  should 
be  followed,  even  though  in  doing  so  opportunities  for  drilling 
on  the  principle  are  lost.  If  any  extensive  drilling  is  to  be 
done  on  the  principle,  the  isolated  word  should  be  used  as  the 
medium.  Dictation  of  nonsensical  connected  passages  has 
no  advantages  over  dictation  of  isolated  words,  and,  on  the 
other  hand,  involves  serious  disadvantages  of  its  own. 

(5)  The  dictation  of  lists  of  words  has  its  place  in  connection 
with  a  drill  upon  a  new  principle,  but  it  is  possible  to  overdo 
work  of  this  sort.  The  bulk  of  the  class  work  should  be  on 
dictation  of  connected  matter.  Where  there  are  words  em- 
bodying particular  difficulties,  they  may  be  discussed  in  ad- 


392     Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

vance  of  the  dictation.  Some  teachers  prefer  to  discuss  the 
difficulties  in  words  after  the  dictation  of  the  passages,  but  we 
beHeve  that,  for  purposes  of  cultivating  speed  and  self-reliance, 
it  is  more  advisable  to  discuss  the  hard  outlines  expected,  in 
advance,  so  as  to  smooth  over  the  difficulties,  and  to  give  the 
student  confidence.  It  is  very  easy  for  one  unexpected  diffi- 
culty to  throw  the  student  off  the  track  and  make  him  lose 
more  than  a  sentence,  and  this  danger  should  be  avoided. 

(6)  In  connection  with  principles  of  habit  formation,  we  saw 
that  bad  habits  formed  early  are  hard  to  eradicate.  Any 
attempt  of  the  teacher  to  force  the  student's  speed  has  a  dis- 
astrous effect  upon  legibility.  Poorly  written,  inaccurate,  and 
illegible  outlines  result  from  the  attempt  of  the  teacher  to 
develop  speed  before  the  ability  to  make  good  and  accurate 
outHnes  has  been  developed. 

(7)  In  connection  with  self-activity,  we  saw  how  important 
the  principle  of  "  learn  to  do  by  doing  "is.  A  teacher  whd 
lectures  on  a  shorthand  outline,  or  who  lets  one  pupil  write 
on  the  board  while  the  others  are  merely  watching,  is  not 
obtaining  the  maximum  amount  of  self-activity  on  the  part 
of  the  class.  The  pupils  in  the  seats  should  write  the  outlines 
simultaneously  with  those  at  the  board.  It  is  a  useful  thing 
when  dictating  to  have  three  or  four  pupils  write  their  notes 
on  the  board,  while  the  others  write  theirs  at  the  seat.  The 
danger  that  pupils  will  copy  from  those  at  the  board  is  entirely 
negligible. 

Suggestions  on  Method.  —  (i)  We  saw,  in  connection  with 
the  correlation  of  stenography  with  English,  that  the  student 
should  be  brought  to  a  realization  of  the  phonetic  nature  of 
stenographic  writing.  We  saw  also  that  a  preliminary  drill 
in  sound  analysis  of  words  should  be  given.  The  purpose  of 
this  drill  should  be  to  note  the  absence  in  the  pronunciation 


Stenography  and  Typewriting  393 

of  the  silent  letters,  and  to  determine  the  accent  of  the  words. 
It  is  surprising  to  find  how  many  pupils  there  are  without  any 
conception  of  accent ;  or  pupils,  who,  while  accenting  correctly, 
are  unaware  of  the  syllable  upon  which  they  put  the  stress. 
We  may  repeat  what  we  said  before,  that  in  the  early  stages 
of  the  subject  a  pronunciation  drill  should  precede  every 
lesson. 

(2)  As  dictation  of  connected  matter  is  so  important  from 
the  very  start,  it  is  necessary  to  introduce  the  most  common 
word-signs  and  phrases  in  the  beginning.  The  old  books  used 
to  introduce  the  contractions  and  phrases  in  a  mass,  and  thus 
throw  an  extra  burden  upon  the  memory  of  the  student. 
The  word-signs  and  phrases  should  be  introduced  gradually 
as  the  lessons  progress. 

(3)  An  important  question  which  has  split  teachers  of  short- 
hand into  two  camps  is  the  question  whether  any  deviation 
from  the  standard  outlines,  as  found  in  the  authorized  dic- 
tionary, should  be  allowed.  There  is  something  to  be  said  in 
favor  of  each  side.  In  phraseography,  for  example,  there  can- 
not be  any  such  thing  as  an  accepted  form  or  an  unauthorized 
form.  Each  stenographer  will  have  to  adapt  the  principles 
of  phraseography  to  the  purposes  of  the  particular  line  of 
business  which  he  is  reporting.  To  be  able  to  do  so,  he  will 
have  to  learn  on  what  principles  phraseography  is  based,  and 
what  element  in  the  phrase  contributes  the  main  part  of  the 
outline.  Writers  of  shorthand  texts  should  limit  the  number 
of  phrases  and  contractions  to  those  most  uniformly  employed, 
and  allow  no  deviation  from  these.  At  the  same  time  they 
should  teach  pupils  what  principles  they  are  to  employ  in 
building  up  phrases  of  their  own.  The  objection,  that  if 
students  modify  their  outlines  to  suit  themselves,  other  per- 
sons will  not  be  able  to  read  their  outlines,  is  of  very  Uttle 


394     Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

importance.  There  is  only  one  way  in  which  a  shorthand 
system  can  be  of  universal  legibility,  and  that  is  by  the  use  of  a 
stenotype.  This  machine  is  as  yet  in  an  experimental  stage, 
and  it  is  too  early  to  tell  whether  it  has  any  advantages  over  the 
ordinary  system. 

(4)  Our  text-books  in  stenography  sometimes  lay  great 
stress  upon  mnemonic  devices  for  remembering  positions  of 
vowels,  hooks,  etc.  These  should  be  used  very  sparingly. 
If  the  mnemonic  sentence  makes  no  sense  and  is  a  mere  non- 
sensical combination  of  words,  it  should  not  be  used,  because 
it  will  only  entail  additional  effort  in  remembering  the  sentence 
as  well  as  the  key  to  it.  A  sentence  such  as  the  following, 
**  That  pen  is  not  much  good,"  has  its  uses  as  an  aid  in  remem- 
bering the  position  of  the  vowels,  and  in  thus  tiding  the  pupil 
over  his  initial  difficulties. 

Common  Faults  oj  Students,  and  How  to  correct  Them. — The 
consideration  of  the  common  faults  of  students  will  throw  light 
upon  many  of  the  problems  of  method. 

(i)  Writing  words  as  they  are  spelled.  The  remedy  for  this 
is  pronunciation  drill  as  mentioned  above. 

(2)  Writing  in  wrong  position.  The  remedy  is  to  make  the 
student  pronounce  the  word  aloud  and  note  the  accented 
vowel.  It  is  useless  for  the  teacher  to  tell  the  student  that  his 
position  is  wrong,  without  letting  him  discover  his  own  mis- 
take. Thus,  if  the  pupil  does  not  realize  that  he  has  picked 
out  the  wrong  vowel  for  his  accent,  the  teacher  will  call  his 
attention  to  the  fact  by  pronouncing  the  word  himself,  and 
exaggerating  the  stress  upon  the  accented  syllable.  In  this 
way,  the  worst  ear  in  the  world  will  have  its  attention  called 
to  the  syllable  which  has  the  stress. 

(3)  Writing  outlines  that  are  not  neat,  —  too  large,  for 
example.     The  remedy  is  insistence  upon  neatness  from  the 


Stenography  and  Typewriting  395 

very  start.  It  is  because  the  teacher  has  failed  to  emphasize 
this  at  the  beginning  and  has  allowed  exceptions  to  creep  in 
that  these  faults  have  developed.  When  this  is  the  case,  the 
teacher  must  lead  the  student  towards  correcting  this  fault. 

(4)  Inability  of  the  student  to  read  his  notes.  This  is  due 
to  forcing  the  speed  of  the  student,  and  not  giving  him  an 
opportunity  to  read  his  notes.  The  remedy  is  to  let  the  writing 
of  shorthand  and  the  reading  of  notes  go  hand  in  hand  from  the 
very  start.  The  reading  of  engraved  shorthand  is  of  impor- 
tance in  giving  the  additional  drill  necessary  for  the  reading  of 
notes. 

(5)  The  other  faults  of  students  are  faults  which  are  found 
in  other  subjects  as  well.  They  arise  from  lack  of  judgment, 
from  misapplication  of  principles,  which  shows  itself  in  the  use 
of  a  wrong  outline.  The  remedy  depends  entirely  upon  the 
nature  of  the  mistake.  In  general,  it  may  be  said  that  it  is 
better  to  lead  the  student  to  see  his  own  error  by  questioning 
him,  than  to  tell  him  his  mistake  outright.  Thus,  if  the  pupil 
makes  a  wrong  outline,  the  teacher  should  not  forthwith 
correct  it,  but  call  his  attention  to  the  wrong  form,  and  by 
questioning  him,  lead  him  to  realize  that  the  form  is  wrong 
and  what  the  correct  form  is.  This  method  of  questioning  is 
known  as  Socratic  questioning,  and  is  one  of  the  most  powerful 
means  known  to  the  teacher  for  the  correction  of  mistakes. 

TYPEWRITING 

In  this  subject  the  principles  of  habit  formation  are  still 
more  important  than  in  stenography.  There  are  two  extremes 
to  be  avoided,  however.  One  is,  putting  the  student  at  the 
machine  and  letting  him  work  out  his  own  fate.  This  is 
ruinous,  because  it  results  in  the  formation  of  bad  habits. 
Teachers  reahze  that  typewriting  is  a  subject  to  be  taught, 


396     Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

not  merely  to  be  picked  up.  On  the  other  hand,  the  opposite 
policy  of  doing  all  the  drill  work  during  the  regular  class  periods 
is  a  great  waste  of  time.  After  the  initial  stages  in  the  forma- 
tion of  good  habits  have  been  passed,  most  of  the  drill  work 
should  be  done  after  school  hours.  There  are  practical  diffi- 
culties connected  with  this,  because  of  the  fact  that  students 
have  no  machines  on  which  to  practise  at  home,  thus  neces- 
sitating a  large  equipment  in  school,  in  order  to  provide  a  large 
proportion  of  the  pupils  with  individual  typewriters  to  practise 
on.  Were  it  not  for  this  fact,  it  would  be  advisable  to  have 
typewriting  introduced  into  our  course  of  study  at  the  same 
time  as  stenography. 

The  time  is  not  very  far  distant  when  the  typewriting  com- 
panies will  be  able  to  reduce  the  rental  of  machines  to  such 
a  rate  as  to  enable  each  pupil  to  take  a  machine  home,  as  he 
takes  a  text-book  home  now. 

In  connection  with  the  habits  which,  at  the  very  start,  we  want 
to  develop  in  the  student  of  typewriting,  is  the  habit  of  taking 
care  of  his  machine  and  keeping  it  in  good  order,  right  posture, 
the  use  of  all  the  fingers,  and  the  habits  of  accuracy  and  neat- 
ness. Little  need  be  said  about  the  value  of  every  one  of  these 
habits.  Some  remarks  may  be  of  value  in  connection  with 
several  of  the  habits.  With  regard  to  the  use  of  all  the  fingers, 
the  experience  of  all  teachers  is  that  one  who  becomes  ac- 
customed to  use  two  or  four  fingers,  for  example,  will  find  it 
very  difficult  to  break  this  habit.  The  result  will  be  a  hard 
touch  and  a  retardation  of  speed.  It  is  therefore  important, 
in  connection  with  posture,  to  see  to  it  that  the  pupil  has  his 
hands  over  the  keyboard  instead  of  away  from  it.  The  fact 
that  the  system  of  touch  typewriting  encourages  this  proper 
touch,  is  one  of  the  many  reasons  why  it  should  be  adopted  in 
all  schools. 


Stenography  and  Typewriting  397 

The  habit  of  accuracy  must  be  developed  at  the  very  start, 
by  rejecting  any  work  that  shows  any  errors,  and  compelling 
the  student  to  rewrite  it.  The  same  rule  would  apply  to  neat- 
ness. Any  copy  that  shows  erasures  or  finger  marks  or  is  im- 
properly spaced  should  be  rejected.  It  is  true  that  in  prac- 
tical business  we  are  not  so  severe  in  the  matter  of  erasures. 
But  it  must  be  remembered  that  if  we  want  to  check  the  habit 
of  carelessness,  we  must  prevent  its  development  at  its  incip- 
iency,  and  this  can  be  accomplished  only  by  rejecting  work  that 
is  not  reasonably  perfect. 

Suggestion  on  Method,  (i)  Mechanism  of  the  Machine.  — 
Every  student  should  be  taught  some  facts  about  the  mechan- 
ism of  the  machine,  so  as  to  know  how  to  take  better  care  of 
it,  and  how  to  make  emergency  repairs,  or  the  adjustments 
necessary,  when  a  machine  gets  slightly  out  of  order.  Inabil- 
ity of  the  student  to  attend  to  some  trifling  disarrangement  of 
the  machine  results  in  tying  up  the  work  until  a  mechanic 
can  be  sent  for.  This  causes  both  inconvenience  and  loss  of 
time. 

(2)  Touch  Typewriting.  —  Reference  to  touch  typewriting 
has  already  been  made  above.  This  method  was  developed 
in  the  education  of  the  blind  ;  and  it  soon  became  evident  that 
it  was  generally  applicable  to  all  persons.  The  next  step  was 
the  realization  that  it  was  not  only  a  method  available  to  all, 
but  that  it  was  far  superior  to  the  other  method  in  speed  and 
touch.  The  technical  methods  in  touch  typewriting  have  been 
extremely  well  developed  by  the  manuals  on  the  subject, 
and  it  is  unnecessary  to  discuss  them  here.  One  remark, 
however,  must  be  made,  and  that  is,  if  the  teacher  adopts  the 
touch  system,  he  should  not  compromise  by  allowing  the 
visible  method  to  be  used  as  well.  The  first  should  be  used 
exclusively. 


398     Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

(3)  The  subject  of  spacing  and  forms  is  of  extreme  impor- 
tance. Consequently,  considerable  practice  should  be  given  to 
the  student  in  typewriting  legal  forms  and  in  filling  out  blanks. 

(4)  The  stenographer  and  typist  has  almost  exclusive  charge 
of  the  mechanical  side  of  the  incoming  and  outgoing  mail. 
Filing  and  indexing  —  work  which  was  considered  in  con- 
nection with  office  practice  —  should  therefore  be  an  essential 
in  this  course.  In  fact,  it  is  difficult  to  separate  the  course  in 
typewriting  from  that  in  office  practice.  Although  it  is  pos- 
sible to  have  office  practice  without  typewriting,  it  is  inadvis- 
able to  have  typewriting  without  office  practice  in  close 
correlation  with  it. 

(5)  Duplicating  work  should  also  be  taught  to  the  student : 
not  only  the  making  of  carbon  copies,  but  also  the  cutting 
of  stencils  for  the  mimeograph. 

While  we  have  spoken  of  the  necessity  of  having  absolutely 
accurate  work,  yet  times  will  always  arise  when  it  is  neces- 
sary to  make  corrections  and  inserts.  For  this  reason  the 
student  should  be  taught  how  to  attend  to  such  matters. 

SUMMARY 

The  practical  educational  value  of  stenography  lies  in  its 
utility  as  a  time  saver  to  the  executive,  as  an  aid  to  clerical 
efiiciency,  and  as  a  means  of  preserving  certain  records. 
The  disciplinary  value  lies  in  its  development  of  concentration, 
control  of  the  hand,  development  of  habits  of  accuracy  and 
neatness,  development  of  the  sense  of  responsibility,  develop- 
ment of  the  imagination  and  the  judgment. 
';  The  educational  value  of  stenography  in  correlation  with 
other  subjects  lies  in  its  aid  to  correct  English,  in  giving  pupils 
correct  values  of  English  sounds  and  improving  their  pronun- 
ciation, and  in  giving  them  valuable  office  practice. 


Stenography  and  Typewriting  399 

Faults  to  be  avoided  in  teaching  stenography  are : 
(i)  The  teaching  of  all  the  principles  before  any  attempt  is 
made  to  give  dictation.  (2)  Including  too  many  rules  and 
exceptions  in  the  same  lesson.  (3)  Introducing  a  principle 
without  making  the  student  see  the  reason  for  it.  (In  this 
connection  the  sequence  of  steps  in  a  lesson  is  given.)  (4) 
Sacrificing  good  English  for  the  sake  of  giving  many  applica- 
tions of  principle.  (5)  Dictating  words  instead  of  passages. 
(6)  Forcing  speed  at  the  expense  of  accuracy.  (7)  Failure 
to  give  sufficient  practice  to  all  students.  Methods  of  over- 
coming the  faults  are  indicated. 

Other  suggestions  on  method  are :  The  giving  of  frequent 
pronunciation  drill ;  the  introduction  of  common  word-signs 
and  phrases  in  the  beginning,  so  as  to  make  dictation  possible 
at  the  very  start ;  the  teaching  of  the  general  principles  of 
phrase  construction ;  and  the  sparing  use  of  mnemonic  devices. 

Common  faults  of  students  are :  Writing  words  as  they 
are  spelled ;  writing  in  wrong  position ;  lack  of  neatness ; 
inabiUty  to  read  their  notes ;  the  misapplication  of  principle. 
The  remedies  are  indicated  in  connection  with  each  fault. 

The  principles  of  habit  formation  are  of  still  greater  applica- 
tion in  typewriting  than  in  stenography.  The  development 
of  good  posture,  neatness  of  work,  proper  technique,  and  habit 
of  accuracy  are  extremely  important.  The  use  of  touch 
typewriting  is  recommended.  Among  the  phases  of  work 
that  the  student  must  get  in  this  course  are  proper  spacing 
and  technical  forms,  carbon  work,  stencil  and  mimeograph 
work,  addressing,  filing,  and  indexing. 


400    Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

EXERCISES 
GROUP  ONE 

1.  What  is  the  practical  value  of  stenography  and  typewriting  ? 

2.  Briefly  explain  the  disciplinary  value  of  stenography. 

3.  Define  the  place  of  stenography  in  the  commercial  programme. 

4.  Should  the  school  limit  itself  to  a  single  system  of  shorthand  ? 
Discuss  pro  and  con. 

5.  State  the  advantages  of  the  touch  system  of  typewriting  compared 
with  other  systems. 

6.  Should  the  teacher  of  stenography  insist  upon  an  absolute  ad- 
herence to  the  dictionary  outline,  or  should  he  encourage  rational  devia- 
tion therefrom  ? 

GROUP  TWO 

1.  As  the  principal  of  a  newly  organized  commercial  high  school, 
how  would  you  decide : 

(o)  Upon  the  system  of  stenography  to  introduce  ? 

(Jb)  Upon  the  kind  of  typewriting  machines  to  purchase  ? 

2.  Plan  a  system  of  practical  training  for  your  pupils  of  stenography 
and  typewriting,  utilizing  the  facilities  afforded  by  the  school  alone. 

3.  Outline  a  model  lesson  in  stenography,  suitable  as  a  type  to  be 
followed  by  yovmg  teachers. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY  1 

Bock,  W.  F.,  The  Psychology  of  Skill.    Missoula,  Univ.  of  Montana, 

1908. 
Brown,  D.  W.,   Factors  of  Shorthand  Speed.      New  York,  Shorthand 

Pub.  Bur.,  1897. 
Clark,  G.  A.,  Shorthand  —  Its  Educational  and  Practical  Value.     N.E.A. 

Report,  191 1,  p.  845. 
Fritz  and  Eldridge,  Expert  Typewriting.    New  York,  Amer.  Book  Co., 

1912. 
MoRAN,  S.  A.,  Teaching  Shorthand.     N.E.A.  Report,  1908,  p.  881. 

^  References  to  text-books  in  stenography  are  not  included. 


PART  THREE 

SPECIAL   PROBLEMS   IN    COMMERCIAL 
EDUCATION 

CHAPTER  XV 

The  Preparation  and  Equipment  of  the  Commercial 

Teacher 

the  situation 

Commercial  education,  especially  in  the  higher  forms,  has 
made  wonderful  advances  during  the  past  decade.  All  the 
signs  of  the  time  point  to  even  greater  forward  strides.  In 
order  to  meet  the  demand  for  this  kind  of  instruction,  it  is 
essential  that  there  be  supplied  a  sufficiently  large  number  of 
well-trained  teachers.  The  fact  that  universities  throughout 
the  land  have  begun  to  respond  to  the  call  augurs  well  for  the 
friends  of  higher  commercial  education  in  the  United  States. 
Though  the  curricula  of  our  schools  do  not  as  yet  attain  to  the 
position  of  those  of  France,  Germany,  and  other  European 
countries,  a  good  beginning  has  been  laid,  so  that  it  is  reason- 
able to  expect  that  ere  long  not  much  more  will  be  left  to  hope 
for. 

This  preliminary  introduction  will  serve  as  an  approach  to 
the  topic  of  this  chapter.  Not  many  years  ago,  the  problem 
of  what  was  a  proper  training  for  the  commercial  teacher 
did  not  concern  many  educators  or  business  men.  Within 
the  memory  of  most  of  us  there  was  a  time  when  it  was  a 
2  D  401 


402     Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

matter  of  indifference  whether  the  teacher  of  business  subjects 
had  the  training  afforded  by  institutions  of  high  school  grade, 
or  not.  His  technical  training  consisted  of  a  knowledge  of 
bookkeeping,  in  scope  no  broader  than  that  which  nowadays 
is  presented  during  the  first  year's  high  school  work  in  the 
subject ;  a  study  of  commercial  arithmetic  which  emphasized 
foreign  exchange  and  "  short  cuts  " ;  and  his  education  was 
rounded  out  with  an  ability,  often  painfully  acquired,  to  swing 
a  pen  artistically.  Some  few  added  to  their  accomplishments 
a  knowledge  of  stenography. 

If  the  training  which  has  thus  been  so  briefly  outlined  suf- 
ficed for  the  teacher  of  a  past  decade,  such  is  no  longer  the 
case.  What  preliminary  education  is  expected  of  the  man  or 
woman  who  expects  to  enter  the  ranks  ?  An  intelligent  answer 
requires  a  survey  of  the  domain  presided  over  by  the  com- 
mercial teacher. 

The  most  superficial  acquaintance  with  modern  business 
education  would  suffice  to  indicate  that  a  much  broader 
knowledge  is  required  at  present  than  formerly.  But  this 
surface  indication  is  not  sufficiently  exact  for  our  purposes. 
So  though  our  investigation  demands  a  more  scientific  basis, 
the  difficulty  which  apparently  looms  up  is  not  as  real  as  might 
be  imagined,  inasmuch  as  an  insight  into  the  curriculum  of  the 
commercial  high  school  has  been  gained  by  a  study  of  the 
subject-matter  contained  in  the  second  chapter.  It  is  our 
purpose  now,  in  the  light  of  what  is  expected  of  the  student, 
to  ascertain  how  the  teacher  may  be  best  fitted  successfully 
to  accomplish  the  work  he  is  called  upon  to  perform. 

Lest  we  take  too  narrow  a  view  of  our  subject,  it  is  well  that 
we  do  not  hasten  to  survey  the  field  from  its  purely  technical 
side  alone.  Too  long,  indeed,  was  it  deemed  sufficient  that 
the  student  preparing  for  the  teaching  of  business  subjects 


Preparation  and  Equipment  of  the  Commercial  Teacher    403 

should  acquire  some  familiarity  with  what  might  be  termed 
"  the  three  R's "  of  commerce  —  reckoning,  'riting,  and 
recording.  Without  continuing  this  topic  in  the  present  con- 
nection, we  wish  to  point  out  that  our  problem,  in  its  entirety, 
must  consider  the  fundamental  training  of  the  teacher  in 
general,  and  then  discuss  what  special  training  should  be 
added  by  the  person  wishing  to  specialize  in  commercial  work. 
It  is  our  purpose  first  to  discuss  the  education  of  this  teacher 
without  direct  reference  to  any  specific  field  of  pedagogic 
activity,  as  the  books  on  education,  whose  number  is  legion, 
spare  us  the  need  of  developing  this  topic  in  too  great  detail. 
It  is  no  longer  held  that  the  teacher  is  born ;  all  concede  that 
he  may  be  made.  Psychology,  pedagogy,  and  the  science  of 
class  management  have  amply  justified  the  contention  of  their 
friends  regarding  their  efhcacy  to  improve  the  raw  material  of 
normal  classes,  so  as  to  produce  good  teachers  for  our  schools. 
We  know,  then,  that  instruction  aiming  to  develop  teaching 
ability  is  practical  and  feasible.  But  instruction  in  how  to 
teach  —  so  most  educators  agree  —  should  only  be  offered  to 
those  who  have  previously  acquired  the  culture  afforded  by 
institutions  of  higher  learning.  No  advanced  community 
any  longer  sanctions  less  than  a  high  school  education  as 
a  prerequisite  for  the  teaching  profession ;  the  tendency  is 
toward  an  insistence  upon  a  college  education  for  persons 
who  intend  to  teach  in  secondary  schools.  The  members 
of  a  high  school  faculty  should  not  have  less  than  a  college 
training,  though  for  practical  purposes  it  may  be,  and  often  is, 
necessary  to  lower  the  bars  in  order  to  secure  instructors  in 
certain  technical  subjects. 


404     Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

COLLEGE   TRAINING 

The  question  arises,  Should  the  commercial  teacher  have  an 
academic  degree  ?  And  if  so,  what  subjects  should  he  choose 
during  his  college  course  ?  It  is  our  firm  conviction  that  the 
college  graduate,  as  a  general  rule,  makes  a  better  pedagogue 
than  the  person  who  has  not  received  the  benefits  of  a  so-called 
liberal  education.  Just  why  this  should  be  so  is  not  easy  to 
state.  It  hardly  suffices  to  assert  that  our  experience  justified 
the  statement.  Especially  is  this  so  in  the  light  of  what  a  very 
popular  college  president,  in  a  recent  address,  defined  culture 
to  be,  —  that  which  was  left  to  a  college  graduate  after  he  had 
forgotten  all  that  he  had  learned  at  his  alma  mater.  Though 
this  definition  must  not  be  accepted  literally,  it  will  serve 
our  purposes  for  a  moment.  If,  then,  it  is  not  the  subjects  of 
instruction  in  themselves  which  are  of  prime  value,  what  is  it 
that  causes  us  to  advocate  a  college  education  for  all  those  who 
wish  to  enter  the  professional  fold  ? 

Probably  the  most  important  contributions  of  a  college 
education  are  the  powers  of  attacking  a  problem  and  the 
broader  point  of  view.  The  ability  to  size  up  a  situation  or  to 
solve  the  problems  which  confront  us,  though  often  the  result 
of  what  has  been  called  a  "  natural  gift,"  is,  by  most  of  us, 
acquired  only  as  a  result  of  education  and  training.  The 
liberal-minded  man  is  most  often  the  product  of  the  college. 
And  even  in  the  realm  of  business  it  is  easy  to  read  the  sign 
of  the  times  which  points  unerringly  to  the  need  of  higher 
commercial  education.  This  spirit  of  the  times  demands  of 
the  man  of  affairs,  as  it  has  long  of  the  minister,  physician, 
and  lawyer,  a  liberal  college  education,  so  as  better  to  fit  him 
to  wrestle  with  the  material  things  of  this  world. 

We  might  be  somewhat  diffident  about  so  strongly  advocat- 


Preparation  and  Equipment  of  the  Commercial  Teacher    405 

ing  that  the  prospective  teacher  devote  three  or  four  years  of 
his  hfe  to  further  schooHng  were  it  not  for  the  change  in  the 
colleges  and  universities  which  is  often  associated  with  the 
name  of  President  Charles  W.  Eliot.  The  elective  system, 
combined  with  the  fact  that  economics  has  been  so  liberalized 
as  to  include  courses  in  business  administration,  trade 
policies,  advertising,  railway  rate  making,  factory  efficiency, 
and  other  strictly  practical  commercial  subjects,  has  re- 
moved the  last  argument  of  the  so-called  self-made  man  to 
the  effect  that  the  only  way  to  learn  a  thing  is  to  do  it.  Busi- 
ness men  have  come  to  realize  that  a  proper  combination  of 
theory  and  practice  spells  greater  efhciency  than  was  possible 
under  the  apprenticeship  system  which  prevailed  until  quite 
recently. 

Now  that  educators  have  come  to  realize  that  no  single 
subject  of  instruction  enjoys  a  monopoly  of  mental  discipline, 
and  that  the  training  value  of  a  topic  depends  not  so  much 
upon  itself  as  on  the  manner  in  which  it  is  presented  and  its 
relationship  to  life  work,  a  wonderful  change  has  come  upon 
the  pohcy  pursued  by  study-programme  builders.  No  longer 
is  it  felt  that  the  classics,  mathematics,  and  moral  philosophy 
should  occupy  the  major  part  of  the  students'  time ;  practical 
subjects,  which  in  themselves  are  as  much  an  intellectual 
discipline  as  was  ever  true  of  the  older  studies,  and  at  the  same 
time  prepare  for  the  life  outside  of  the  college  campus,  have 
come  to  be  regarded  as  suitable  diet  for  the  student.  It  is 
because  of  this  change  in  the  college  and  university  curricula, 
that  we  feel  it  so  strongly  incumbent  upon  us  to  advise  the 
reader  to  seize  the  opportunity,  if  presented,  to  come  within 
the  influence  of  an  institution  which  is  dominated  by  modern 
educational  ideals. 


4o6    Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

EXTENSION   COURSES 

But  we  realize  that  many  of  those  to  whom  these  pages  will 
come  have  either  no  chance  to  attend  a  college,  or  else  are 
now  teaching,  and  cannot  very  well  begin  their  preparation 
anew.  To  them,  it  is  the  Gospel  of  Hope,  not  of  Despair, 
we  wish  to  preach.  Traditions  have  been  shattered  in  this 
twentieth  century  of  ours;  all  good  roads  lead  to  success. 
Our  institutions  of  learning,  catering  to  the  needs  of  those  who 
cannot  devote  all  of  their  time  to  instruction,  have  begun  to 
offer  evening  courses  and  summer  school  work,  which  practi- 
cally parallel  the  regular  day  sessions.  Yet  even  for  those 
who  cannot  attend  upon  this  work,  the  door  of  hope  is  not 
closed.  Reliable  correspondence  schools  have  made  available 
to  the  ambitious  student  much  of  that  which  formerly  was  for 
the  elect  alone. 

Regular  day  session  work  is  probably  most  fruitful  of  results. 
This  is  true  for  a  number  of  reasons,  of  which  the  most  impor- 
tant are  that  most  students  who  attend  these  classes  have 
greater  leisure  than  the  other  groups,  and  that  they  pursue 
their  studies  at  a  period  during  the  day  when  their  minds  are 
freshest.  Class  instruction,  whether  in  winter  or  summer  or 
during  the  day  or  evening,  is  more  desirable  than  correspond- 
ence instruction  because  of  the  emulation  which  is  excited  by 
the  daily  recitation.  But  correspondence  schooling,  when 
properly  and  conscientiously  conducted,  is,  to  the  properly 
qualified  ambitious  worker,  hardly  less  beneficial  than  any 
other  kind.  On  this  point,  the  remarks  of  the  late  President 
Harper  of  the  University  of  Chicago  are  very  apropos : 

"I  have  myself  been  personally  interested  in  correspondence  work  for 
twenty  years,  and  I  have  seen  the  system  worked  for  that  period  of  time. 
In  some  respects  there  is  opportunity  for  better  work  in  correspondence 


Preparation  and  Equipment  of  the  Commercial  Teacher   407 

study  than  in  ordinary  class-room  recitation.  Each  student  in  a  cor- 
respondence course  has  to  recite  on  all  the  lessons,  while  in  many  a  class 
room  the  student  recites  on  only  about  one-thirtieth  of  the  work  of  a 
three  months'  course.  It  is  safe  to  say  that  the  standard  of  work  done 
in  correspondence  courses  is  fully  equal  to  that  of  the  work  done  in  the 
larger  classes.  Indeed,  I  may  say  that  there  is  a  larger  proportion  of  high- 
grade  work  done  by  correspondence  than  in  class  recitation.  People 
who  take  work  by  correspondence  do  it  because  they  want  to  get  some- 
thing out  of  it,  while  in  many  courses  in  colleges,  the  students  take  the 
work  merely  because  it  is  required  in  the  curriculum." 

A  word  of  explanation  is  necessary  regarding  our  attitude 
toward  instruction  by  correspondence.  We  have  met  many 
persons  who  are  discouraged  because  they  have  not  had,  or 
do  not  have,  an  opportunity  to  improve  themselves  by  means 
of  college  or  university  work.  We  have  just  tried  to  show 
that  for  the  truly  ambitious  opportunity  knocks  more  than 
once  —  in  fact,  it  keeps  on  knocking  all  the  time.  The  in- 
vitation is  for  all  the  old  and  young,  the  beginner  and  the 
experienced  teacher,  man  and  woman,  native  and  foreigner. 

It  is  true  that  correspondence  instruction  in  practical  sub- 
jects is  of  value  only  where  the  student  has  opportunity  to 
apply  his  theories  to  practical  experience  either  in  the  labora- 
tory, the  shop,  or  the  business.  But  then  many  of  the  stu- 
dents who  take  correspondence  work,  do  so  in  order  to  help 
them  organize  their  practical  experience,  in  order  to  give  them 
a  broader  outlook  upon  their  work  and  a  consequent  oppor- 
tunity to  advance  themselves  in  it.  The  instruction  fulfils 
its  purpose  as  far  as  those  students  are  concerned.  Corre- 
spondence work  in  business  subjects  is  therefore  valuable  to 
learners,  because  the  large  majority  of  them  are  engaged  in 
business,  and  have  the  opportunity,  by  practical  use,  to  test 
what  they  have  learned. 

But  we  cannot  leave  the  discussion  without  a  parting  word, 


4o8     Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

or  else  we  may  be  misunderstood.  Despite  our  approval  of 
correspondence  instruction,  we  must  regard  it  as  a  substitute, 
not  as  an  alternative,  of  regular  university  work.  Every  one 
who  has  time  and  means  to  pursue  regular  university  courses 
should  by  all  means  do  so.  The  dividends  are  bound  to  be 
ample  and  satisfactory. 

SPECIALIZATION 

Now  that  we  are  agreed  that  a  college  education  is  a  desir- 
able preliminary  for  the  work  of  the  teacher  because,  aside 
from  all  other  benefits,  it  actually  prepares  him  for  his  life 
work,  another  question  remains.  What  special  training  will 
best  fit  the  commercial  teacher  for  his  professional  duties? 
It  has  already  been  seen  that  an  examination  of  the  high  school 
curriculum,  with  which  a  study  of  Chapter  II  acquainted 
us,  would  probably  furnish  a  reliable  index. 

In  thus  speaking  of  the  curriculum  in  Chapter  II,  we  must 
guard  against  falling  into  a  natural  error.  We  are  not  justi- 
fied in  jumping  to  the  conclusion  that  a  high  school  student 
who  has  pursued  the  work  outlined  for  a  commercial  course  is 
by  virtue  of  such  training  best  fitted  for  the  task  of  teaching. 
Nor  would  such  a  person  be  much  better  able  to  cope  with 
the  problems  of  the  schoolmaster,  were  he  to  add  a  normal 
course  to  his  high  school  education.  For  it  is  to  be  remem- 
bered that  whereas  a  good  student  of  a  certain  subject  may 
prove  a  successful  coach  for  a  less  able  classmate,  it  is  quite 
a  different  task  to  formally  present  a  topic  to  a  class.  The 
best  preparation  for  the  successful  presentation  is  a  thorough 
knowledge  of  subject-matter,  and  such  an  understanding  can 
only  be  acquired  by  pursuing  one's  studies  beyond  the  rela- 
tively narrow  confines  of  the  academy. 

When  dealing  with  the  training  of  the  commercial  teacher, 


Preparation  and  Equipment  oj  the  Commercial  Teacher   409 

we  are  treating  of  an  instructor  who  must  supplement  what- 
ever knowledge  he  has  acquired  at  school  or  college,  by  actual 
experience  gained  in  the  real  world  of  business.  Thus,  the 
person  who  essays  to  teach  bookkeeping  should  have  kept 
books,  —  the  person  who  discusses  railway  rate  making 
should,  if  possible,  have  helped  to  establish  a  tariff.  But  this 
is  an  ideal  state  which  though  aimed  at  is  quite  beyond  at- 
tainment. Fortunately,  any  business  experience  so  changes 
the  academic  attitude,  that  a  healthy  reaction  to  unpractical 
theory  results  from  such  contact,  and  it  is  found  that  the 
student  body  is  much  more  impressed  by  the  man  who  comes 
from  business  than  with  the  profound  cloister  philosopher 
who  theorizes  on  what  real  banking  or  real  importing  are,  or 
ought  to  be. 

The  conclusion  often  drawn  from  such  statements  as  those 
contained  in  the  foregoing  paragraph,  serves  to  emphasize 
the  need  of  a  training  in  logic  for  many  persons.  Though 
business  experience  enriches  academic  instruction,  it  by  no 
means  follows  that  the  man  of  business,  —  solely  because  of 
his  experience,  and  without  the  acquirements  which  would 
be  his  were  he  to  have  pursued  courses  in  business  subjects,  — 
makes  the  ideal  teacher  of  commercial  students.  Every  one 
familiar  with  school  administration  can  present  examples  of 
brilliant  artists  who  cannot  teach  the  rudiments  of  drawing, 
of  skilled  mechanics  who  fail  to  succeed  as  instructors  in  man- 
ual training,  of  successful  practical  men  who  are  all  at  sea  in 
the  changed  environment  of  the  class  room. 

We  are  now  prepared  to  accept  the  conclusion  that  the 
training  of  the  teacher  is  a  much  more  complex  process  than 
at  first  sight  appeared  to  be  the  case,  while  the  situation  is 
more  complicated  still  when  we  deal  with  the  teacher  as  a 
speciaHst.     Soon  we  shall  see  that  the  analysis  in  so  far  as  it 


4IO     Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

applies  to  the  teacher  of  commercial  branches  offers  greater 
diflSculty  than  might  be  expected  even  in  light  of  what  ob- 
stacles were  anticipated,  because  he  is  called  upon  to  present 
such  a  variety  of  more  or  less  unrelated  groups  of  subjects. 
Still,  before  we  proceed  with  the  final  division  of  this  section, 
it  is  well  to  summarize  our  conclusion  thus  far.  The  ambi- 
tious student  who  aims  at  success  as  a  teacher  of  business 
subjects  should  strive  to  acquire  a  college  education  which 
should  include  or  be  supplemented  by  courses  in  pedagogic 
and  commercial  subjects,  and  he  should  endeavor  to  secure 
some  actual  experience  at  keeping  books,  or  as  a  real  worker 
in  some  business,  so  as  to  secure  an  insight  into  affairs  which 
in  school,  no  matter  how  well  it  carries  out  the  ideals  of  busi- 
ness education,  he  can  ever  hope  fully  to  accomplish. 

The  time  has  now  come  to  ascertain  what  special  topics  the 
reader  should  be  prepared  to  handle.  Necessarily  the  re- 
quirements will  vary  with  different  situations,  but  for  our 
purposes  we  shall  employ  the  model  curriculum  arranged  for 
the  commercial  high  school  and  shown  in  an  early  chapter. 
Obviously,  the  subjects  included  under  science,  languages, 
mathematics,  and  other  such  general  groups,  are  not  properly 
included  as  business  topics,  though  necessarily  included  in 
the  curriculum  for  purposes  which  have  been  made  clear 
elsewhere.  An  ability  to  teach  other  subjects  than  those 
primarily  his  own  will  enhance  the  value  of  the  instructor 
to  any  institute,  but  as  a  man  or  woman  is  usually  engaged 
because  of  his  or  her  ability  as  a  specialist,  we  shall  devote 
our  attention  solely  to  those  which  constitute  commercial  or 
business  subjects.  In  passing,  however,  it  may  be  said  that 
the  person  who  has  had  the  benefits  of  a  liberal  education, 
and  who  understands  methodology,  can,  in  an  emergency, 
handle  with  reasonable  success  almost  any  subject  the  prin- 


Preparation  and  Equipment  of  the  Commercial  Teacher    411 

ciples  of  which  have  been  definitely  formulated  in  a  text- 
book. 

The  first  group  of  subjects  in  the  curriculum  may  be  styled 
the  technical  group.  Of  the  subjects  in  this  group,  accounting 
is  the  most  important.  Besides  bookkeeping,  it  includes 
penmanship,  commercial  arithmetic,  business  forms,  and  busi- 
ness practice.  The  second  group  may  be  termed  economics 
or  the  science  of  commerce.  It  consists  of  commercial  geog- 
raphy, the  history  of  commerce,  and  economics.  To  these 
subjects  may  be  added  commercial  law. 

One  who  wishes  to  qualify  to  teach  stenography  must 
become  proficient  not  only  in  subject-matter  and  methods  of 
teaching,  but  must  obtain  thorough  training  in  English  com- 
position and  rhetoric,  in  business  practice  and  usages,  and  in 
office  systems  and  routine.  Subjects  of  the  economics  group 
and  commercial  law  should  form  a  part  of  the  teacher's  train- 
ing, although  they  are  hardly  necessary  as  a  part  of  the  quali- 
fying examination  for  the  position  as  teacher  of  stenography. 
The  question  may  arise  whether  a  teacher  of  the  subject  should 
be  required  to  take  a  speed  test,  or  whether  it  is  sufficient  for 
him  merely  to  be  thoroughly  acquainted  with  the  principles 
of  the  shorthand  system.  Our  answer  is  that  the  teacher  who 
wishes  to  drill  students  in  speed  must  understand  the  prac- 
tical problems  that  have  to  be  overcome  in  the  attainment  of 
it.  He  can  hardly  be  familiar  with  these  if  he  has  never  con- 
quered them  himself.  Besides,  the  schools  are  entitled  to 
the  services  of  experts  in  their  craft.  Too  often  has  the 
charge  been  made  that  persons  who  are  unfit  to  obtain  a  good 
position  in  the  business  world  take  to  teaching  commercial 
subjects. 

Another  prerequisite  of  all  business  teachers  is  penmanship. 
Good  penmanship  was  long  deemed  a  gift.     Various  systems 


412     Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

of  full  or  modified  muscular  movement  writing  have  demon- 
strated the  fact  that  every  one  can  easily  and  quickly  secure 
the  ability  to  execute  fairly  desirable  copy.  The  prospective 
teacher  must  realize  that  it  is  almost,  if  not  absolutely,  im- 
possible to  secure  a  position  unless  the  applicant  is  able  to 
show  himself  a  master  of  what  is  sometimes  known  as  a  good 
business  hand. 

This  discussion  would  not  be  complete  were  we  to  neglect 
to  indicate  how  a  knowledge  requisite  for  the  task  of  the  per- 
son undertaking  to  teach  the  subjects  just  indicated  may 
be  secured.  Students  in  high  schools  or  colleges  which  do  not 
offer  instruction  in  this  work  can  secure  it  by  attending  summer 
sessions,  or  by  correspondence  work.  To  be  able  to  do  book- 
keeping properly,  however,  the  prospective  teacher  must  also 
study  accounting,  and,  as  was  shown  earlier,  he  must  also 
secure  some  business  experience.  Every  one  must  decide  for 
himself  how  to  do  this ;  some  may  decide  to  do  so  in  some  of 
the  ways  already  pointed  out,  or  else  by  devoting  another 
year  or  two  to  the  period  of  preparation.  He  may  supplement 
his  business  experience,  if  this  is  meagre,  by  observation  work 
in  business  houses.  The  time  is  coming  when  every  school 
board  will  permit  teachers  of  commercial  work  to  absent 
themselves,  for  a  short  time  every  year,  for  the  purpose 
of  studying  concretely  the  ways  in  which  business  is  con- 
ducted. 

In  conclusion,  we  must  consider  the  complaint  that  the 
prospective  financial  rewards  of  teaching  commercial  branches 
hardly  justify  an  elaborate  period  of  preparation.  It  is  true 
that  the  salaries  paid  are,  as  a  rule,  inadequate,  but  not  to 
those  who  are  in  a  position  to  command  a  salary  proportional 
to  their  worth ;  and  they  are  persons  that  have  had  a  broad 
training.     Not  until  the  standard  of  preparation  of  the  com- 


Preparation  and  Equipment  of  the  Commercial  Teacher    413 

mercial  teacher  is  at  least  as  high  as  that  of  the  academic 
teacher  will  his  standing  equal  and  his  salary  surpass  that  of 
the  other.  In  order  to  expect  the  community  to  value  his 
services  properly,  the  commercial  teacher  must  impress  it 
with  his  worth  by  an  adequate  preparation  and  special  equip- 
ment for  his  profession. 


SUMMARY 

The  success  of  commercial  education  in  the  secondary  and 
high  schools  depends  upon  a  supply  of  well-trained  teachers. 
The  old-time  teacher  of  business  subjects  had  little  more  than 
a  knowledge  of  elementary  bookkeeping  and  arithmetic,  a 
smattering  of  stenography,  and  the  abihty  to  write  artisti- 
cally. 

The  well-equipped  teacher  of  to-day  should  have  a  broad 
general  culture  equivalent  to  a  college  education,  and  a  ground- 
ing in  pedagogy.  If  he  has  not  had  this  culture,  and  resident 
courses  are  not  available,  he  should  try  to  obtain  it  through 
the  correspondence  schools. 

The  specialized  training  of  the  prospective  teachers  in  ad- 
dition to  pedagogic  study,  should  be  in  connection  with  an 
intensive  study  of  groups  of  commercial  subjects.  The  first 
group  is  the  technical  group,  including  accounting  and  arith- 
metic ;  the  second  is  the  economic  group,  including  commer- 
cial geography,  history,  the  technique  of  commerce,  law,  and 
economics.  The  third  group  includes  stenography,  type- 
writing, and  English. 

Every  teacher  should  have  had  some  practice  work  in  busi- 
ness, and  this  experience  should  be  supplemented,  even  when 
he  is  already  engaged  in  teaching,  by  observation  work  in 
business. 


414     Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

EXERCISES 
GROUP  ONE 

1.  Discuss  the  progress  made  in  the  training  of  the  teacher  of  com- 
mercial subjects. 

2.  Why  should  the  teacher  of  bookkeeping  have  some  actual  business 
experience  ? 

3.  Should  a  commercial  teacher  pursue  an  academic  course  at  college  ? 
Give  reasons. 

4.  Summarize  the  views  of  modern  educators  regarding  the  value 
of  correspondence  instruction. 

5.  Criticise  the  statement,  "the  practical  accountant  makes  the  best 
teacher  of  bookkeeping." 

6.  In  what  subjects  of  the  ordinary  college  course  should  the  prospec- 
tive teacher  of  commercial  subjects  specialize  ?    Why  ? 

GROUP  TWO 

1.  Plan  a  summer  course  in  reading  for  a  teacher  of  business  subjects, 
who  has  not  had  a  college  education. 

2.  Prepare  a  normal  course  in  bookkeeping  and  accounting  suitable 
for  teachers. 

3.  Outline  an  address  of  inspiration  to  be  delivered  to  a  convention  of 
commercial  teachers,  most  of  whom  have  had  no  academic  training 
beyond  the  high  school. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Brown,  H.  B.,  Available  Means  and  Additional  Means  Required  for  the 
Preparation  of  Commercial  Teachers.     N.E. A.  Report,  1907,  p.  884. 

Bulletin  of  the  Harvard  School  of  Business  Administration.  Cambridge, 
Harvard  University,  current.  (Similar  bulletins  may  be  obtained 
from  other  universities.  Among  them  may  be  mentioned  the  fol- 
lowing: Dartmouth  College,  Amos  Tuck  School  of  Administra- 
tion and  Finance;  New  York  University,  School  of  Commerce, 
Accounts  and  Finance ;  University  of  Chicago,  School  of  Commerce ; 
University  of  Pennsylvania,  Wharton  School  of  Finance.) 

COOLEY,  E.  G.,  Training  of  Vocational  Teachers  in  Germany.  Washington, 
Report  of  U.  S.  Bur.  of  Ed.,  1911,  Chap.  11. 


Preparation  and  Equipment  of  the  Commercial  Teacher   415 

DeGarmo,  C,  Methods  of  Preparing  Teachers  for  Commercial  Schools  in 

Germany.     N.E.A.  Report,  1908,  p.  902. 
Fisher,  P.  M.,  The  Essentials  of  the  Ideal  Commercial  Teacher.     N.E.A. 

Report,  191 1,  p.  865. 
Pitman,  J.  A.,  The  Education  and  Professional  Training  of  Commercial 

Teachers.     N.E.A.  Report,  1910,  p.  847. 
Weber,  F.  C,  Methods  of  Improving  Commercial  Teachers  now  at  Work. 

N.E.A.  Report,  1907,  p.  890. 


CHAPTER  XVI 

Relation  of  the  Secondary  School  to  the  Higher 
School  of  Commerce  and  to  the  Business  Com- 
munity 

the  secondary  school  and  the  higher  school  of 
commerce 

The  topics  to  be  considered  in  this  chapter  are  very  impor- 
tant for  the  secondary  school  student  and  graduate,  because 
they  involve  a  question  of  the  articulation  of  his  work  in  the 
school  with  his  work  after  graduation.  In  order  to  answer 
some  of  the  questions  that  may  arise  on  this  point,  we  must 
define  once  more  the  vocational  aim  of  the  secondary  school  of 
commerce. 

Sufficient  has  been  said  on  this  subject  to  indicate  that  the 
aim  of  the  high  school  is  not  vocational  in  the  special  sense  of 
the  word,  but  prevocational.  To  illustrate  the  distinction 
between  the  two,  we  may  compare  the  technical  high  school 
with  the  trade  or  engineering  school.  The  latter  is  designed 
to  train  the  specialist  in  a  particular  line  of  activity ;  the  former 
aims  to  give  the  student  an  acquaintance  with  several  lines  of 
technical  activity,  to  aid  him  in  determining  his  choice  of  a 
specialty  which  he  is  to  pursue  after  graduation,  and  to  give 
him  that  training  which  will  enable  him  very  materially  to 
reduce  the  period  of  apprenticeship  in  whatever  line  of  in- 
dustry he  enters. 

Our  secondary  commercial  school  occupies  a  position  anal- 
ogous to  that  of  the  technical  high  school.     With  the  excep- 

416 


The  School  and  the  Business  Community  417 

tion  of  the  work  in  stenography  and  typewriting,  it  scarcely 
may  be  said  to  prepare  directly  for  a  vocation.  It  is  true 
that  graduates  are  prepared  to  take  positions  as  bookkeepers, 
but  the  school  does  not  bring  them  to  the  goal  of  the  book- 
keeper's ambition :  the  profession  of  certified  public  account- 
ancy. It  does,  however,  give  them  the  general  culture,  the 
ability  to  take  advantage  of  their  opportunities  in  business, 
to  observe  and  to  interpret,  to  pursue  self-culture  toward 
the  attainment  of  this  goal  by  the  combination  of  experience 
and  self-instruction.  The  higher  lines  of  technical  commer- 
cial activity  are  practically  closed  to  the  person  who  has 
had  no  more  than  a  common  school  education ;  although 
in  exceptional  instances,  we  find  persons  of  native  energy, 
intelligence,  and  will  who  have  mastered  the  greatest  technical 
difficulties  by  self-study  or  by  correspondence  instruction. 

We  must  repeat,  then,  that  while  the  graduate  of  the  sec- 
ondary school  may  be  disappointed  by  having  to  begin  almost 
on  the  same  level  as  the  one  who  has  had  no  such  education, 
he  will  outstrip  his  rival  in  a  short  while,  and  will  attain  a 
position  to  which,  without  such  education,  he  never  could 
have  aspired.  But  the  high  school  graduate  need  not  be  too 
vain  of  what  he  has  accomplished,  and  imagine  that  his  edu- 
cation is  complete.  If  there  is  one  thing  that  a  cultured 
man  realizes,  it  is  the  necessity  of  pursuing  the  search  for 
knowledge  right  through  Hfe.  The  high  school  graduate 
should  therefore  have  developed  in  his  course  that  thirst  for 
knowledge  which  would  urge  him  to  satisfy  it;  and  his  ex- 
perience in  business  will  lead  him  to  see  how  much  he  needs 
to  supplement  his  knowledge  in  order  to  advance  himself  to 
the  higher  stages  of  his  vocation.  He  will  look  about  him  for 
an  opportunity  for  further  study,  and  if  he  lives  in  that  com- 
munity in  which  are  given  higher  courses  of  instruction  in 


41 8    Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

commerce,  he  will  be  very  fortunate  indeed.  If  this  oppor- 
tunity does  not  exist,  he  will  take  advantage  of  the  instruc- 
tion offered  by  the  better  class  of  correspondence  schools. 
The  curriculum  of  the  university  school  of  commerce  is  de- 
termined both  by  the  needs  of  the  business  community  and 
by  the  degree  of  previous  training  which  it  presupposes.  Its 
aim  is  distinctly  practical  or  vocational.  In  the  secondary 
school,  the  attempt  to  give  specialized  courses  in  real  estate, 
insurance,  or  salesmanship  must  end  in  failure.  The  inclusion 
of  such  courses,  even  as  electives,  looks  well  in  a  curriculum, 
but  on  what  basis  can  the  student  determine  his  election  ?  In 
exceptional  cases  a  pupil  may  have  his  mind  focused  on  a 
definite  real  estate  or  insurance  office  in  which  a  position  is 
waiting  for  him  after  graduation.  But  the  secondary  school 
cannot  afford  to  give  courses  for  those  few,  and  even  if  it 
could,  the  work  would  be  of  very  little  value,  because  it  could 
not  be  correlated  with  practical  experience.  It  is,  however, 
a  very  good  thing  to  be  able,  in  a  general  course,  like  applied 
economics  or  technique  of  commerce,  to  present  these  special 
activities  so  as  to  give  the  student  an  outlook  upon  various 
business  activities  in  order  to  suggest  problems  to  him,  and 
in  order  to  determine  his  choice  of  a  particular  phase  of  busi- 
ness activity.  In  most  cases,  the  student's  choice  of  a  par- 
ticular line  of  business  will  be  determined  by  accidental  cir- 
cumstances. If  he  obtains  a  position  in  a  bank,  then  he  will 
feel  that,  if  he  expects  to  make  banking  his  life  work,  he  must 
know  the  work  from  all  sides.  Here  comes  the  greatest  func- 
tion of  the  university  school  of  commerce:  in  offering  courses 
to  students  who  are  already  engaged  in  business,  who  feel  the 
inadequacy  of  their  present  knowledge,  who  realize  the  prob- 
lems that  exist,  and  who  can  fi.nd  instruction  that  will  not  only 
satisfy  their  need  in  their  present  position,  but  prepare  them 


The  School  and  the  Business  Community  419 

for  the  highest  achievement  in  their  Une  of  work.  The  work 
is  only  another  illustration  of  human  experience,  that  when 
theory  and  practice  go  together,  the  results  are  most  successful. 

There  are  certain  high  school  graduates,  however,  who  in- 
tend to  enter  a  university  school  in  order  to  devote  all  their 
time  to  post-graduate  study.  The  university  satisfies  the 
needs  of  these  students  as  well,  by  offering  a  systematic 
course  leading  to  a  degree.  But  even  such  students  should, 
in  some  way  or  other,  spend  a  part  of  their  time  in  actual 
business.  What  would  we  think  of  the  physician  who  re- 
ceives his  degree  to  practice  medicine  without  having  done 
any  clinical  work  ?  It  is  therefore  a  peculiar  situation  to  find 
a  person  graduating  as  a  specialist  in  a  certain  business  with- 
out any  business  experience  whatever.  Most  of  the  students 
in  higher  schools  of  commerce  either  are  engaged  in  business 
and  devoting  a  part  of  their  time  to  study,  or  they  have  had 
business  experience  and  are  taking  a  year  or  two  off,  to  do 
some  studying  which  will  fit  them  for  higher  lines  of  work. 

The  university  also  serves  the  need  of  business  men  who 
are  not  able  to  devote  a  large  portion  of  their  time  to  study, 
but  who  are  interested  in  certain  special  lines  of  work  that 
correlate  with  their  business  activities.  These  men  are  cer- 
tainly made  better  for  the  supplementary  training  they  are 
receiving.  And  finally,  the  higher  school  is  of  the  greatest 
value  to  the  commercial  teacher,  as  we  indicated  in  Chapter  XV. 

THE     RELATION    OF      THE    HIGH     SCHOOL      TO    THE     BUSINESS 

COMMUNITY 

After  all  that  is  said  about  the  commercial  high  school,  the 
only  prevocational  function  which  still  devolves  upon  it  is  to 
bring  the  school  in  closer  touch  with  the  business  community. 
There  are  at  least  two  reasons  for  this  :  First,  it  must  make  the 


420    Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

theoretic  work  in  the  school  concrete  and  appKcable  to  real 
business  conditions ;  secondly,  it  must  make  it  easier  for  the 
graduate  to  adapt  himself  to  his  vocational  surroundings, 
with  the  least  possible  waste  of  effort.  The  prevocational 
technical  school  has  partly  solved  the  problem  by  bringing 
the  machine  shop  and  some  of  the  equipment  of  industrial 
life  into  the  school.  To  a  limited  extent  this  may  also  be  done 
in  the  commercial  school.  It  is  possible,  for  example,  to  have 
the  standard  office  equipment,  filing  systems,  calculating 
machines,  mimeographs,  and  other  duplicating  machines,  etc., 
as  a  part  of  the  equipment  of  the  school.  The  student  may 
thus  become  acquainted  with  office  appliances,  —  an  acquaint- 
ance which  will  stand  him  in  good  stead. 

But  an  equipment  is  not  a  business,  and  making  use  of  the 
equipment  is  not  the  same  as  doing  business.  Shall  we  have  a 
model  ofiice,  a  miniature  store  or  bank,  or  some  other  form  of 
business  ?  Experiments  along  this  line  have  not  been  success- 
ful, because  they  do  not  impress  the  student  sufiiciently  with 
the  reality  of  the  work ;  they  are  mere  play.  By  arousing 
the  imagination,  we  can,  of  course,  give  a  certain  appearance 
of  reality  to  the  work.  In  bookkeeping,  the  good  teacher  can 
impress  the  student  with  a  reality  of  the  business,  the  trans- 
actions of  which  he  is  recording,  by  making  him  take  an  in- 
terest in  the  particular  customers  with  which  the  firm  is  deal- 
ing, with  the  margin  of  profit  on  which  the  business  is  working, 
with  the  progress  which  the  business  has  made,  and  with  pos- 
sible suggestions  for  improvement  that  might  have  to  be  made. 
Successful  work  along  the  lines  of  stimulating  the  imagina- 
tion of  the  students  presupposes  very  good  teaching,  very 
good  business  material,  and  exercises  that  have  an  air  of 
verisimilitude  about  them. 

There  is  another  way  in  which  the  business  may  be  brought 


The  School  and  the  Business  Community  421 

into  the  school,  although  it  is  not  the  most  substantial  way. 
We  refer  to  addresses  or  courses  of  lectures  given  by  repre- 
sentative members  of  the  business  community  to  the  members 
of  the  school.  A  lecture,  it  is  true,  is  hardly  the  best  peda- 
gogical method  of  impressing  the  student  with  knowledge. 
But  these  lectures  have  a  great  importance,  nevertheless ; 
first,  they  introduce  the  students  to  successful  types  of  busi- 
ness men,  and  thus  give  them  a  certain  amount  of  encour- 
agement. Secondly,  they  make  the  students  feel  that  the 
business  community  is  taking  an  interest  in  them,  and  is 
ready  to  help  them  if  they  show  themselves  worthy  of  help. 
Thirdly,  they  are  very  important  in  connection  with  voca- 
tional guidance. 

It  is  true  that  the  students  in  commercial  schools  have 
decided  their  vocation  to  be  a  business  career.  But  business 
to-day  is  highly  specialized,  and  even  though  a  student  may 
have  decided  to  enter  commercial  life,  the  question  still  re- 
mains, in  what  direction  he  should  specialize.  These  lectures 
give  a  certain  bent  therefore  to  the  student's  post-graduate 
activity.  We  may  say,  then,  that  even  if  the  information 
obtained  from  the  lectures  is  not  permanent,  the  inspiration 
given  and  enthusiasm  aroused  are  abiding,  and  they  there- 
fore accomplish  their  purpose.  The  New  York  Chamber  of 
Commerce  has  recently  organized  a  series  of  lectures  by 
business  men  to  the  students  of  the  commercial  high  schools 
of  New  York.  It  is  very  encouraging  for  the  future  to  find 
that  the  most  representative  organization  of  business  men  in 
the  city  has  realized  the  duty  that  devolves  upon  it  to  co- 
operate with  the  educational  authorities  of  the  city  to  an  end 
that  will  serve  to  the  benefit  of  the  community  at  large. 

Systematic  work  undertaken  by  organized  effort  is  far 
more  effective    than   the  desultory  work  which  marks  pre- 


422     Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

vious  effort  along  this  line,  and  the  chamber  of  commerce  or 
board  of  trade  in  every  community  should  imitate  the  example 
of  the  New  York  commercial  body,  and  take  initiative  in  the 
matter  of  closer  cooperation  between  the  school  and  the  busi- 
ness community.  But  to  insure  the  success  of  the  system  of 
lectures,  they  should  be  organized  into  courses,  students  should 
be  encouraged  to  ask  questions,  supplementary  work  on  the 
basis  of  the  lectures  should  be  given  by  the  teachers  to  their 
classes,  and  the  students  should  be  examined  on  the  substance 
of  the  lectures.  The  courses  of  lectures  should  therefore  be 
regarded  as  a  part  of  the  required  work  of  the  school. 

If  there  are  limited  opportunities  for  business  to  come  to 
the  school,  the  only  other  way  to  increase  the  measure  of 
cooperation  with  the  commercial  community  is  for  the  school 
to  go  into  the  business.  In  a  very  small  way  this  can  always 
be  done  with  a  selected  number  of  students  by  taking  them 
for  observation  trips  to  various  industrial  and  business  houses. 
The  ways  and  means  for  effective  work  in  this  direction  were 
suggested  in  the  chapters  on  the  technique  of  commerce  and 
commercial  geography,  and  emphasis  was  laid  there  upon  the 
fact  that  in  order  to  make  these  visits  of  educational  value, 
the  students  must  be  prepared  to  know  what  to  look  for,  and 
they  must  be  required  to  report  upon  and  discuss  the  results 
of  their  observations. 

A  practical  way  of  bringing  business  and  school  together 
is  being  worked  out  by  the  educational  authorities  of  New 
York.  The  plan  is  to  bring  the  school  into  the  business 
place,  to  send  teachers  to  some  of  the  large  department  stores 
and  organize  classes  there  for  the  purpose  of  instructing  the 
students  to  a  better  understanding  of  their  duties  in  the  es- 
tablishments in  which  they  are  working,  and  to  supply  such 
deficiencies  in  the  elementary  education  of  the  workers  as 


The  School  and  the  Business  Community  423 

are  a  hindrance  to  their  progress.  Before  the  pubhc  authori- 
ties decided  to  undertake  this  work,  there  had  aheady  been 
in  existence  classes  of  this  sort  in  the  Wanamaker  stores  and 
elsewhere.  The  estabhshment  of  this  plan  on  a  larger  scale 
is  another  realization  of  the  duty  which  the  community  owes 
to  those  who  have  been  compelled  to  go  to  work  before  their 
elementary  education  was  complete. 

But  this  experiment  bears  only  indirectly  upon  our  par- 
ticular problem  in  this  chapter,  namely,  how  to  bring  the 
secondary  commercial  school  in  closer  cooperation  with  the 
business  community.  The  continuation  classes  started  in  the 
mercantile  establishments  are,  after  all,  only  subordinate  to 
the  practical  work  which  the  pupils  are  doing  in  the  business. 
We  are  looking  at  the  subject  from  the  standpoint  of  its 
feasibility,  with  the  educational  view  primary  and  the  prac- 
tical or  vocational  part  secondary.  It  is  true  that  we  may 
provide  higher  evening  instruction  for  the  graduates  of  our 
secondary  school ;  and  the  commercial  college  which  is  to  be 
established  in  New  York  under  the  supervision  of  the  Chamber 
of  Commerce  will  supply  this  need  in  a  large  measure.  Even- 
ing instruction  is,  however,  a  drain  on  the  worker  who  has 
been  using  up  his  nervous  energy  all  day.  The  best  hours 
for  mental  effort  are  in  the  morning  or  in  the  late  afternoon, 
and  the  problem  to  work  out  is  how  to  secure  the  cooperation 
of  the  business  community  so  as  to  enable  the  workers  to 
devote  some  of  the  hours  which  are  most  productive  for 
mental  acti\'ity  to  post-graduate  study  that  will  be  most 
helpful  to  them  in  their  line  of  work.  The  College  of  Com- 
merce will  undoubtedly  work  out  a  plan  of  part-time  pursuit 
of  a  gainful  occupation  and  part-time  instruction  in  correla- 
tion with  it  —  and  at  such  hours  as  are  most  productive  of 
good.     But  this  will  still  leave  unsettled  the  question,  whether 


424    Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

we  cannot  have  some  practical  business  training  for  the  student 
of  the  secondary  school  while  he  is  studying. 

Is  it  desirable,  we  may  ask,  assuming  that  the  practical 
difficulties  can  be  eliminated,  to  combine  instruction  with 
employment  in  business  during  the  secondary  school  period? 
Probably  not  during  the  first  two  years  of  the  course.  The 
student  is  not  sufficiently  prepared,  at  the  age  of  fourteen,  to 
do  effective  work  in  business,  and  he  needs  to  devote  all  his 
time  to  his  school  work.  But  in  the  third  and  fourth  years 
some  attempt  at  a  combined  system  should  be  made. 

In  order  to  have  a  definite  line  along  which  we  can  inaugu- 
rate a  particular  system  of  coordination  between  the  business 
and  the  school,  we  must  study  what  has  been  done  along  these 
lines  in  the  industrial  world.  There  are  two  systems  that 
have  been  installed  in  different  communities,  the  cooperative 
system  and  the  continuation  system.  In  the  first  system  the 
manufacturer  agrees  with  the  school  system  to  give  a  system- 
atic apprentice  course  in  the  trade,  while  the  school  agrees  to 
give  special  theoretical  instruction  that  is  directly  connected 
with  the  technical  work.  In  some  cases,  the  school  alternates 
with  the  shop,  taking  the  students  one  week  and  sending  them 
to  the  shop  the  other.  The  next  week  students  in  the  shop 
come  back  to  school  for  instruction,  while  those  who  have 
been  in  the  school  go  to  the  shop.  The  work  in  theory  and 
practice  is  carefully  coordinated,  so  that  one  helps  and  sup- 
plements the  other. 

The  cooperative  plan  has  been  a  great  success  in  Fitchburg. 
It  has  been  found  that  the  average  boy  can  do  nearly  as  much 
school  work  as  that  required  in  the  four-years  high  school 
course,  by  means  of  half-time  work  in  school  and  half-time  in 
the  shop.  The  superintendent  of  one  of  the  large  industries 
of  Fitchburg  says  of  the  value  of  this  course :     "On  their 


The  School  and  tJie  Business  Community  425 

graduation  we  find  that  the  high  school  boys  are  practically 
of  the  same  intelligence,  so  far  as  shop  work  goes,  possibly  not 
quite  as  keen  in  touch  as  the  ambitious  boy  who  serves  his 
time  on  the  old  plan,  but  they  have  a  mental  equipment  from 
their  study  in  the  schools  that  would  give  them  in  a  few  months' 
time  in  the  shops  the  same  touch  with  the  addition  of  the 
school  training.  They  are  more  manly  and  have  wider  vision, 
and  we  prefer  them  to  the  boys  who  are  taught  the  trade  with- 
out the  school  experience."  ^ 

The  cooperative  scheme  of  instruction  with  its  close  coordi- 
nation between  school  and  shop,  such  as  is  found  in  Fitchburg, 
is  hardly  applicable  to  business.  Commercial  work  is  scarcely 
of  the  same  specialized  character  as  shop  work,  and  only  coor- 
dination of  a  general  kind  is  required.  It  would  be  a  highly 
interesting  experiment,  however,  to  try  the  plan  of  letting 
pupils  in  the  third  and  fourth  year  of  the  high  school  devote 
one  week  to  instruction  and  one  week  to  business.  It  is  true 
that  this  plan  might  necessitate  a  fifth  year  of  school.  But 
what  of  it?  The  gain  would  much  more  than  compensate 
for  the  loss.  And  not  more  than  an  additional  year  to  the 
regular  course  would  be  needed,  because  the  long  vacations 
would  be  utilized  as  a  regular  part  of  the  course.  The  ob- 
jection that  there  might  be  a  loss  of  continuity  in  the  work 
is  not  borne  out  by  the  experience  of  those  cities  in  which  the 
cooperative  industrial  plan  has  been  tried.  As  a  matter  of 
fact,  the  students  would  return  from  business  to  the  school 
with  a  refreshed  mind  and  with  a  new  enthusiasm. 

Under  the  part-time  continuation  plan,  the  employee  is 
left  free  to  engage  in  school  work  for  a  part  of  every  day  or 
one  or  more  days  a  week.  This  system  is  particularly  ap- 
plicable to  persons  who  are  already  engaged  in  business,  and 

1  New  York  Times  Annalist,  March  23,  1914. 


426     Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

who  wish  to  obtain  a  sounder  theoretic  foundation  for  their 
practical  work.  The  cooperative  system,  on  the  other  hand, 
is  chiefly  applicable  to  persons  with  whom  study  is  the  major 
pursuit,  and  practice  is  supplementary.  Applying  the  part- 
time  continuation  system  to  the  secondary  commercial  school 
would  involve  sending  third  and  fourth  year  pupils  for  a  part 
of  a  day,  or  preferably  for  one  or  two  days  a  week,  to  the  place 
of  business.  Of  course  it  may  be  argued  that  no  employer 
would  be  willing  to  break  up  the  routine  of  his  business  in 
order  to  give  opportunity  to  some  outsider  to  get  some  prac- 
tical experience.  In  other  words,  it  may  be  contended  that 
an  employer  would  get  no  use  from  such  an  arrangement. 
In  considering  this,  it  must  be  remembered  that  the  purpose 
of  sending  pupils  of  the  school  to  commercial  establishments 
would  be  not  so  much  to  give  them  a  chance  to  earn  a  part  of 
their  way,  but  to  give  them  some  contact  with  real  business. 
Even  if  they  do  not  receive  any  compensation,  they  would 
still  gain  a  great  deal  from  one  day's  work  a  week,  outside  of 
school.  Of  course  the  better  plan  would  be  to  have  the  al- 
ternating system  of  one  week  of  business  and  one  week  of 
school,  as  outlined  in  the  preceding  paragraph,  because  such 
a  scheme  would  give  a  certain  amount  of  continuous,  instead 
of  mere  fragmentary,  experience.  In  this  alternating  scheme, 
too,  the  work  of  the  pupil  would  be  distinctly  worth  while  to 
the  business  man,  and  it  would  be  fair  for  him  to  pay  some 
wages. 

The  success  of  the  cooperative  plan  of  instruction  is  de- 
pendent, to  a  large  extent,  upon  the  coordination  of  the  work 
in  business  with  the  work  in  school.  We  have  said  that  the 
close  coordination  found  in  industry  is  hardly  possible  in 
business,  because  the  office  or  business  house  does  not  at 
any  one  time  reveal  all  the  different  phases  of  the  business 


The  School  and  the  Business  Community  427 

from  the  simplest  to  the  most  complex,  as  does  the  shop,  in 
which  all  the  different  stages  in  the  evolution  of  a  product 
may  be  revealed  to  the  apprentice.  But  the  mere  fact  that 
the  student  is  in  business,  keeping  his  eyes  open  and  seeing 
the  realities  of  the  things  that  are  discussed  in  theory  in  school, 
is  a  great  means  of  education,  even  though  the  work  to  which 
the  student  apprentice  would  be  sent  would  probably  be  of 
a  humble  character,  such  as  office-boy  work.  But  it  must  be 
remarked  that  without  preparation  by  the  school  for  the  work 
that  the  student  is  going  to  do  the  succeeding  week  in  busi- 
ness, the  practice  work  will  be  almost  fruitless.  How  much 
does  the  office  boy,  for  example,  observe  of  what  is  going  on 
in  the  business,  outside  the  narrow  scope  of  his  activity  ?  The 
student  should  have  suggestive  problems  for  observation  put 
to  him.  He  must  be  made  to  feel  that  he  must  get  the  an- 
swers to  those  problems  by  his  observation  during  his  practice 
week.  He  must  feel  that  the  work  he  is  doing  in  business  is 
an  essential  part  of  the  work  required  for  graduation  from 
high  school.  If  progress  reports  of  his  efficiency  in  the  prac- 
tical work  are  made,  and  if  the  payment  of  wages  is  made 
conditioned  upon  efficient  work,  the  student  will  have  the 
best  incentives  to  do  his  utmost ;  and  the  results  will  be 
profitable  to  the  business  and  to  the  pupil,  and  highly  satisfac- 
tory to  his  teacher. 

Many  details  connected  with  the  working  out  of  an  efficient 
scheme  of  cooperation  require  special  coordinators,  such  as 
are  found  in  Fitchburg :  persons  who  understand  both  the 
needs  of  the  school  and  the  needs  of  the  business  community ; 
persons  who  will  take  charge  of  the  placing  of  pupils  in  the 
business  houses  for  practice  work,  who  will  see  that  the  em- 
ployer treats  them  fairly,  and  who  will  follow  and  check  up 
their  progress.     In  a  large  school  system  it  may  be  necessary 


428    Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

to  have  coordinators  for  specialized  lines  of  industry,  to  secure 
the  best  results.  Thus,  there  would  be  a  coordinator  for  the 
banking,  insurance,  and  other  financial  concerns ;  a  coordina- 
tor for  the  merchandising  and  salesmanship  business,  another 
one  for  accounting,  etc.  It  would  also  be  the  duty  of  the 
coordinator  to  articulate  the  work  of  one  student  apprentice 
with  the  one  who  succeeds  him.  As  we  noted  above,  the  al- 
ternating scheme  of  cooperation  requires  the  pupil  to  spend 
one  week  in  school  and  another  one  in  the  business  house. 
When  he  returns  to  school  the  next  week,  his  place  is  taken 
by  a  fellow  pupil,  who  was  in  school  during  the  week  that  the 
other  one  was  doing  practice  work.  To  insure  the  continuity 
of  the  work  in  the  business  house,  so  as  to  make  it  possible  for 
the  employer  to  respond  to  suggestions  for  cooperation,  it 
would  be  necessary  for  the  two  apprentices,  —  the  one  who 
is  leaving  and  the  one  who  is  taking  his  place,  —  to  meet 
each  other  to  confer  about  work  for  the  ensuing  week.  This 
meeting,  under  the  direction  of  the  coordinator,  could  take 
place  on  Saturdays. 

In  the  alternating  scheme  a  pupil  would  not  necessarily  do 
all  his  practice  work  in  the  same  business  throughout  the  year. 
It  would  be  preferable  for  him  to  have  experience  in  several 
lines  of  business  activity.  In  this  way  his  vocational  bent 
would  be  determined,  and  prospective  employers  would 
have  great  opportunities  to  discover  possible  talents  and  apti- 
tudes of  apprentices.  This  opportunity,  which  cooperation 
gives  to  pupils  "  to  find  themselves,"  is  one  of  the  most  valu- 
able features  of  the  plan.  Any  complete  scheme  of  compul- 
sory cooperative  or  continuation  instruction  that  is  at  all 
systematic  may  involve  legislation,  the  constitutionality  of 
which  might  be  in  doubt.  The  success  of  the  plan  must  be 
looked  for  in  the  direction  of  voluntary  cooperation  between 


The  School  and  the  Business  Community  429 

the  school  and  the  business  community  and  in  the  pubHc 
spirit  or  enlightened  selfishness  of  the  business  man.  It  is 
hoped  that  the  chambers  of  commerce,  working  in  con- 
junction with  the  school  authorities,  will  develop  a  feasible 
and  efficient  plan  of  cooperation. 

An  opportunity  for  cooperation  that  should  be  made  use  of 
is  the  assignment  of  pupils,  under  supervision,  to  do  some  of 
the  business  work  connected  with  the  school,  and  even  with 
some  of  the  departments  of  the  city .  government.  In  several 
western  communities  such  a  plan  has  been  adopted.  One 
thing  that  can  be  done  is  to  make  use  of  the  large  opportuni- 
ties which  the  city  as  an  employer  can  offer  for  observation 
and  practice  work  by  students  of  the  commercial  high  schools. 

But  there  are  several  additional  elements,  outside  of  those 
already  considered,  which  will  aid  very  materially  in  the  suc- 
cess of  the  plan.     Some  of  these  are  as  follows : 

1.  Visits  by  teachers  to  business  houses.  If  the  school  is 
to  keep  alive  to  the  needs  of  business,  the  teachers  must  keep 
up  with  the  times.  Modern  business  is  growing  so  rapidly 
in  its  methods  that  it  does  not  take  many  years  before  a  book 
on  a  business  subject  becomes  out  of  date.  Even  granting  a 
basis  of  business  experience  on  the  part  of  the  commercial 
teacher,  it  is  still  possible  that  he  will  get  out  of  date,  unless 
in  some  way  he  keeps  in  touch  with  changing  conditions  in 
business ;  this  he  can  only  partially  do  through  reading  the 
latest  books  and  magazines  which  deal  with  business  problems. 
Every  teacher  ought  to  make  it  his  object  to  spend  several 
days  of  the  year  in  the  active  observation  of  how  practical 
business  is  conducted ;  and  school  boards  ought  to  furnish  all 
the  facilities  to  teachers  in  the  way  of  leave  of  absence,  in 
order  to  enable  them  to  do  so. 

2.  Teachers'    and   Business   Men's    Clubs.     Organizations 


430    Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

ought  to  be  formed,  consisting  of  business  men  and  teachers, 
for  the  discussion  of  problems  arising  in  connection  with  co- 
operation between  the  school  and  the  business  community. 
Such  clubs  will  be  of  benefit  to  the  business  man  in  broadening 
his  point  of  view,  by  showing  him  the  educational  problems 
involved,  and  by  giving  him  an  opportunity  to  impress  his 
practical  views  upon  those  immediately  in  charge  of  educa- 
tional administration  and  instruction.  The  clubs  will  be  of 
benefit  to  the  teachers  in  making  them  more  responsive  to  the 
needs  of  the  community,  in  broadening  their  outlook,  and  in 
making  the  results  of  their  teaching  more  effective,  by  the 
larger  opportunities  which  they  will  obtain  for  their  pupils  in 
practical  training. 

An  important  result  of  cooperation  will  be  to  make  the 
business  man  value  more  highly  the  needs  of  a  sound  theoretical 
foundation,  and  to  insure  in  the  long  run  a  generation  of  more 
efficiently  trained  men.  If  the  business  man  gives  practical 
recognition  to  the  work  of  the  school  by  honoring  the  certifi- 
cate of  pupils  who  have  been  trained  under  the  cooperative 
plan,  the  success  of  it  will  be  more  assured. 

In  conclusion,  it  will  be  perfectly  evident  to  our  readers, 
that  just  as  in  the  past  few  years  the  greatest  advance  in 
commercial  education  has  been  in  the  direction  of  the  estab- 
lishment of  university  departments  of  commerce  as  well  as 
high  schools  of  commerce,  so  the  great  advance  of  the  next 
few  years  will  be  in  the  line  of  development  of  the  cooperative 
plan  of  instruction. 

SUMMARY 

The  graduate  of  the  secondary  school  of  commerce  is  not  a 
specialist  in  commerce,  but  he  has  a  business  culture  which 
will  enable  him  to  reduce  very  materially  his  period  of  ap- 


The  School  and  the  Business  Community  431 

prenticeship.  The  function  of  the  higher  school  of  commerce 
is  (i)  to  give  the  high  school  graduates  who  have  entered  busi- 
ness the  opportunity  to  specialize  in  subjects  in  correlation 
with  his  practical  work.  (2)  To  give  them  an  opportunity  to 
devote  the  main  part  of  their  time  to  post-graduate  study. 
But  practice  work  in  business  should  be  a  required  part  of 
post-graduate  study.  (3)  To  give  special  courses  to  business 
men.  (4)  To  give  the  commercial  teacher  supplementary 
work. 

It  is  the  duty  of  the  school  to  come  in  closer  touch  with  the 
business  community  in  order  to  correlate  theory  with  practice 
and  to  make  it  easier  for  the  graduate  to  adapt  himself  to  his 
vocational  surrounding  with  the  least  possible  waste  of  effort. 

The  ways  of  bringing  the  business  into  the  school  are  by 
the  use  of  standard  equipment,  model  offices,  and  miniature 
stores,  and  addresses  or  courses  of  lectures.  The  ways  of 
bringing  the  school  into  the  business  are  by  organized  obser- 
vation trips  to  business  houses,  by  continuation  classes  in 
business  places  and  department  stores,  by  part-time  instruction 
in  the  day  or  evening  schools  along  the  line  of  the  student's 
vocation. 

Employment  of  high  school  students  in  business  as  a  means 
of  combining  theory  with  practice  is  not  feasible  in  the  first 
two  years  of  the  course.  Cooperative  plans  of  instruction 
have  been  adopted  in  fines  of  industry  in  a  few  cities.  The 
alternating  plans  of  Cincinnati  and  Fitchburg,  by  which 
students  spend  one  week  in  school  and  one  week  in  the  indus- 
try, have  been  very  successful.  The  system  may  be  appfied 
to  commerce  also,  but  without  the  close  articulation  possible 
in  industry.  Part-time  cooperative  plans  are  not  so  good  as 
alternating  plans.  The  success  of  all  cooperative  plans  re- 
quires teachers  who  will  keep  in  touch  with  the  community 


432     Principles  and  Methods  in  Commercial  Education 

through  visits  to  business  houses  and  through  clubs ;  coor- 
dinators who  will  correlate  the  theoretical  and  the  practical 
work  of  student  apprentices,  and  the  public  spirit  and  en- 
lightened selfishness  of  the  business  community. 

EXERCISES 
GROUP  ONE 

1.  What  is  meant  by  the  vocational  aim  of  the  secondary  school  of 
commerce  ? 

2.  Distinguish  between  vocational  and  prevocational  training. 

3.  Justify  the  spending  of  four  years  in  a  commercial  high  school  by  a 
boy  who  will  have  to  begin  his  business  career  at  the  "foot  of  the  ladder." 

4.  How  can  the  high  school  serve  the  business  community,  and  how 
can  business  and  industry  aid  the  high  school  ? 

5.  Discuss  the  value  of  a  "model  office"  as  part  of  the  equipment  of 
a  secondary  school  of  commerce. 

6.  Describe  what  steps  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  of  your  community 
could  take  to  encourage  business  education. 

7.  Describe  the  Fitchburg  plan  of  coordinating  the  work  of  high 
school  with  that  of  the  shop. 

8.  How  does  the  Cincinnati  plan  differ  from  the  Fitchburg  plan  ? 

GROUP  TWO 

1.  Outline  a  plan  of  cooperation  between  a  commercial  high  school 
and  practical  office  work. 

2.  Arrange  a  programme  of  suitable  subjects  for  a  series  of  addresses 
to  be  given  by  the  leading  business  men  of  your  community  to  the 
students  of  the  commercial  high  school. 

3.  Outline  a  set  of  instructions  for  a  group  of  high  school  seniors  who 
have  obtained  permission  to  inspect  the  office  equipment  and  organiza- 
tion of  a  local  concern. 

4.  Prepare  a  circular  letter  to  the  business  men  of  your  community, 
calling  attention  to  the  business  training  offered  by  your  high  school, 
inviting  inspection,  suggestion,  and  cooperation,  and  offering  to  supply 
their  needs  for  well-trained  office  help. 


The  School  and  the  Business  Community  433 

5.  Assume  that  six  business  houses  in  your  community  were  wilHng 
to  permit  twelve  of  your  students  to  assist  them  afternoons  and  Satur- 
days. Arrange  a  scheme  for  proper  correlation,  and  explain  how  you 
would  utilize  this  number  so  as  to  prove  of  greatest  advantage  to  the 
business  men,  to  the  individual  pupils,  and  to  the  entire  class. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Beckwith,  H.,  German  Industrial  Education  and  its  Lessons  for  the  United 

States.     Washington,  U.  S.,  Bur.  of  Ed.  Bulletins,  1913,  No.  19. 
Consular   Reports   on   Continuation   Schools   in   Prussia.     Washington, 

U.  S.  Bur.  of  Ed.  Bulletins,  1913,  No.  9. 
CoOLEY,  E.  G.,  Vocational  Education  in  Europe.     Chicago,  Commercial 

Club,  1912. 
Dabney,  C.  W.,  The  Municipal  University  and  Its  Work.     N.  E.  A. 

Report,  191 2,  p.  773. 
Farrington,  F.  E.,  Commercial  Education  in  Germany.    New  York. 

Macmillan  Co.,  1914. 
Herrick,  C.  a.,  Commercial  Education  as  a  Branch  of  Vocational  Train- 
ing.    N.  E.  A.  Report,  1910,  p.  861. 
James,  E.  J.,  Relation  of  the  College  and  University  to  Higher  Commercial 

Education.     New  York,  Amer.  Econ.  Assn.  Publications,  1901. 
Report  of  the  Proceedings  of  the  First  Annual  Convention  of  the  National 

Association  of  Corporation  Schools.     1913. 
Schneider,  H.,  Report  on  Vocational  Education  in  New  York  City  Public 

Schools.     (In  Report  on  School  Inquiry.)     New  York,  1913. 
Cooperation  of  Schools  and  Shops.     Washington,  U.  S.,  Bur.  of  Ed. 

Bulletins,  1913,  No.  10. 
Stuart,  R.  R.,  Specially  Prepared  and  Incidental  Business  Training. 

N.  E.  A.  Report,  1913,  p.  626. 
Wirt,  W.  A.,  Utilization  of  the  School  Plant.     N.  E.  A.  Report,  1912, 

p.  492. 


INDEX 


Account,   fundamental    notion    in    book- 
keeping, 165. 
Accountant  defined,  201 
Accounting,  Chap.  VII,  201 

place  in  curriculum,  61 

justification  for  including  course,  204 

methodology  in,  207 

syllabus,  206 
Advertising  and  Salesmanship,  course  in, 

277 
/Esthetic  training,  38 
Algebra,  apphcations  of,  to  arithmetic,  105 

educational  value,  7 

formulas,  value  of,  107 

rational  foundation  for  arithmetic,  102 
Apperception,  76 
Arithmetic,  blackboard  in,  121 

Business,  Chap.  IV,  gi 

business,  reasons  for  including  in  high 
school,  gr 

causes  of  failure  in,  g2 

commercial,  educational  value  of,  6 

course  of  study,  iig 

diagram  in,  122 

examination  in,  124 

oral  work  in,  122 

place  in  curriculum,  61 

rules  for  elimination  of  topics,  gs 

special  methods  in,  121- 

teacher's  note-book  in,  123 

text-book  in,  123 

topics  in  higher  commercial,  no 
Assets  and  Liabilities,  statement  of,  1 7g 
Auditing,  223 

Balance  Sheet  in  accounting,  208 

in  bookkeeping,  i7g 
Balliet,    Dr.   Thomas,   on    adaptation    of 
arithmetic  course  to  practical  life,  log 
Bank  Discount,  114 
Biology,  educational  value,  15 

place  in  curriculum,  57 
Blackboard  in  arithmetic,  121 


Bonds,  115 

Bookkeeping,  Chap.  VT,  151 

aim  of  course  in,  154 

and  accounting,  educational  value,  8 

and  business  practice,  place  in  curricu- 
lum, 61 

"Budget"  or  "Voucher"  System,  140 

ethics  of,  igi 

practice  set  in,  160 

syDabus  in,  ig5 

teachers,  156 

texts,  152,  159 
Books,  special  in  bookkeeping,  182 
Budget,  196 

system  in  bookkeeping,  140 
Business  community  and  the  school,  419. 
Business  education,  content  of,  5 

forms,  135 

practice  and  ofl6ce  routine,  educational 
value,  II 

technique,  place  in  curriculum,  6x 

Calculation,  artificial  aids  to,  105 
Capital  versus  income,  202 
Case  Method  in  law,  320 

adapted  to  secondar>'  school  teaching,  323 
Cash  Book,  83,  183 
Chemistr>',  educational  value  of,  16 

place  in  curriculum,  58 
Civics,  educational  value  of,  22 
Class-room  instruction,  disadvantages  of ,  85 
Closing  the  books  in  bookkeeping,  186 
Clubs,  teachers'  and  business  men's,  429 
College  of  Commerce,  423 
College  training,  value  of,  404 
Columns,  special,  185 
Combined  method,  in  history  of  commerce, 

294 
Commerce,  Government  aid  to,  236 
History  of.  Chap.  X,  286 
human  factors  in,  234 
physiographic  influence  on,  233 
technique  of,  271 


435 


436 


Index 


Commercial  Geography,  Chap.  VIII,  227 

aids  in,  246 

general  geography  included  in,  237 

human  factors  in,  234 

materials  of  commerce,  241 

methods  in,  257 

organization  of  material,  243 

physiographic  elements  in,  233 

reference  books,  247 

selection  of  material,  241 

teaching  difficulties,  227 

topics  in,  233 
Commercial  Law,  Chap.  XI,  300 

correlation  value,  310 

culture  value  of,  304 

discipHnary  value  of,  302 

drill  in,  326 

place  in  curriculum,  63 

preliminary  topics,  317 

selection  of  cases,  329 

selection  of  topics  in,  311 

special  methods,  324 

steps  in  lesson  in,  324 

utilitarian  value  of,  302 
Commercial  museums,  251 
Commission,  112 
Composition,  369 

aids  in,  373 

work,  correction  of,  379 
Compound  interest,  116 
Concrete    material    for    commercial   geog- 
raphy, 232 

mistakes  in  use  of,  78 
Concrete  to  abstract,  principle  of  develop- 
ment in  teaching,  76 
Conflict  of  laws,  attitude  of  teacher  on, 

308 
Continuation    system    of    apprenticeship, 

426 
Controlling  accounts,  186 
Cooperative  system  of  apprenticeship,  422 
Coordinators,    system    of,    between    the 

school  and  business,  427 
Correction  of  composition  work,  379 
Correspondence  instruction,  406 
Cost  accounts,  219 

Course  of  study,  basis  for  admitting  non- 
vocational  subjects  into,  51 

of    the    secondary    commercial    school. 
Chap.  II,  49 

principles    upon    which    electives    are 
offered,  54 


problem  of  constructing,  49 

reasons  for  deviation  from  standard,  66 

schedule  for  four  years,  53 
Courts,  function  of,  318 
Customs  and  duties,  in  arithmetic,  118 

Debit  and  credit,  teaching  of,  165 
Deductive   method   in   commercial   geog- 
raphy, 259 

in  history  of  commerce,  295 

in  law,  310,  327 
Devices,  special,  in  bookkeeping,  191 
Devising  a  set  of  books,  222 
Diagrams  in  arithmetic,  122 
Difficulties,  subdivision  of,  in  arithmetic, 

121 
Difficulties,  in  commercial  law,  300 

in  economics,  346 

in  geography,  227 

in  technique  of  commerce,  273 
Disciplinary  value  of  law,  32. 

influence  upon  methods  of  teaching,  307 
Double  entry  bookkeeping,  introduction  of, 

166 
Drafts,  188 

Drawing,  place  in  curriculum,  63 
Drill,  in  arithmetic,  94,  97 

class,  special,  105 

importance  of,  78 

in  commercial  law,  326 
Duplicating  work,  398 
Duties,  in  arithmetic,  118 

Economics,  Chap.  XII,  344 

basis  of  preparation  of  student  of,  345 

debatable  topics  in,  348 

educational  value  of,  19 

fundamental  concepts  in,  347 

ground  to  be  covered,  346 

place  in  curriculum,  62 

syllabus  in,  356 

topics  in,  349 
Economy,  training  in  habit  of,  42 
Educated  versus  self-made  men,  i 
Education,  aims  of,  2 

business,  as  discipline,  24 

Essentials  and  Value  of  Business,  Chap. 
I,  I 
Electives,  principles  upon  which  offered,  54 
English,  Business,  Chap.  XIII,  365 

business,  aim  and  scope  of,  365 

place  in  curriculum,  55 


Index 


437 


Ethics  of  bookkeeping,  191 

business,  44 
Examinations  in  arithmetic,  124 

in  bookkeeping,  194 

in  commercial  law,  332 
Exchange,  foreign,  118 

study  of,  278 
Extension  courses  for  commercial  teachers, 
406 

Facts,    interpretation    of,    in    commercial 
geography,  231 

in  history,  selection  of,  288 
Figures,   organization   of    knowledge    of, 

244 
Filing,  143,  398 

Fitchburg  plan  of  cooperation,  424 
Formal  discipline,  25 
Formal  steps  of  the  recitation,  83 

in  history,  294 
Forms  in  typewriting,  398 
Formulas  in  bookkeeping,  181 

use  and  value  of,  in  arithmetic,  107 
Free-arm  movement  in  penmanship,  130 

Geography,  Commercial,  Chap.  VIII,  227 

educational  value  of,  20 

place  in  curriculum,  60 
Geometry,  plane,  educational  value  of,  8 
Government,  study  of  economic  activities 

of,  278 
Grammar  and  rhetoric,  367 
Graph,  the,  in  commercial  geography,  254 
Graphic  method,  296 
Graphs  in  bookkeeping,  191 
Graphs  in  economics,  355 
Group  system  of  instruction,  87 

Habit  formation,  principles  of,  78 

Habit  subject,  81 

Habits,  development  of,  41 

Hatfield,   Professor,  use  of  balance  sheet 

results,  203 
Heuristic  method,  257 
Higher  school  of  commerce,  and  secondary 

school,  416 
Historical  method  in  economics,  354 

teaching,  aids  in,  296 
History,  educational  value  of,  20 

place  in  curriculum,  58 
History  of  Commerce,  Chap.  X,  286 

methods  in,  292 


point  of  view,  292 

purpose  of  course,  286 

topics  in,  288 
Home  preparation  in  bookkeeping,  192 
Human  factors  influencing  commerce,  234 

Imagination,  constructive,  in  bookkeeping, 
189 

in  commercial  geography,  240 

in  law,  331 

training  of,  35 
Income  versus  capital,  202 
Individual  instruction,  uses  and  limitations 

of,  85 
Induction,  method  of,  77 

versus  deduction  in  bookkeeping,  156 
Inductive    method    in    commercial    geog- 
raphy, 258 

in  arithmetic,  121 
Industrial  history  of  the  United  States,  291 
Industrial  revolution,  291 
Industries,  local,  229 
Intellectual  training  in  business  education, 

25 

Interest,  in  arithmetic,  113,  116 
Interest  and  purpose,  75 
Invention  in  composition  work,  373 

Journal,  177 

Judgment,  training  of,  29 

Known  to  unknown,  principle  of  develop- 
ment, 76 

Language  drill  work,  37 

educational  value,  5 
Languages,  foreign,  place  in  curriculum,  56 
Law,  Commercial,  Chap.  XII,  300 

educational  value,  22 
Lectures  by  business  men,  421 
Legal  forms,  328 
Letter  writing,  375 
Library,  teacher's  law,  334 
Local  industries,  course  in,  introductory  to 
geography,  229 

place  in  curriculum,  59 

syllabus  in,  265 

Maps,  252 

Manufacturing,  study  of,  275 
Marketing  a  product,  study  of,  276 
Materials  of  Commerce,  233 


'HE  following  pages  contain  advertisements  of  a 
few  of  the  Macmillan  books  on  kindred  subjects 


Commercial  Education  in  Germany 

By  FREDERIC  E.   FARRINGTON,   Ph.D. 

Associate  Professor  of  Educational  Administration,  Columbia  University 

Cloth,  i2mo,  267  pages,  $1.10 

"COMMERCIAL    EDUCATION    IN    GERMANY" 

is  a  study  of  industrial  and  commercial  training  in  the 
German  schools.  The  author  makes  clear  the  German 
scheme  of  education  in  general  and  follows  out  the  work- 
ing of  the  system  in  its  actual  results. 

To  the  American  teacher,  he  gives  not  only  a  broad 
view  of  the  educational  system,  but  those  definite  detail 
suggestions  of  practice  so  helpful  in  progressive  work ;  for 
example,  in  the  chapter  on  Lower  Commercial  Schools: 

The  Conditions  of  Employment 
Search  for  Position 
Occupations  for  Pupils 
Apprentice  Period. 

Under  regulations  for  the  Continuation  Schools  are  given 
suggestive  topics  as  follows : 

Attendance 

Discipline  and  its  Enforcement 

Year  and  Session. 

In  the  discussion  of  the  program  of  study  for  these 
schools,  there  are  worth-while  suggestions  of  each  topic 
and  each  main  division  covering  Methods  of  Instruction 
and  the  Type  Lessons  given  in  each  grade. 

This  book,  the  result  of  Professor  Farrington's  thorough 
investigation,  is  a  valuable  study  of  a  phase  of  education, 
significant  to  teachers,  of  ways  and  means  of  solving  many 
of  our  own  educational  problems. 


THE    MACMILLAN   COMPANY 

Publishers  64-66  Fifth  Avenue  Nev  York 


THE  MEANING  AND   PRACTICE   OF 

Commercial  Education 

'By  CHEESMAN  A.   HERRICK,   Ph.D. 
President  Girard  College,  Philadelphia,  Pennsylvania 

Cloth,  i2mo.,  XV  +  27S  pages.    $1.25 

The  book  above  mentioned  was  prepared  to  explain  the  idea  and 
describe  the  actual  workings  of  commercial  schools.  It  treats 
commercial  education  from  various  points  of  view,  and  shows  that  this  form 
of  instruction  is  a  result  of  present  economic  conditions  and  a  natural  step 
in  our  educational  development.  The  author  shows  also  that  special  edu- 
cation for  the  present  commercial  age  is  both  possible  and  desirable,  and 
that  such  education  will  gradually  bring  about  a  higher  form  of  commer- 
cialism. 

The  author  reviews  the  movements  to  furnish  commercial  education 
in  various  countries,  including  Germany  and  Austria,  France  and  Bel- 
gium, England  and  the  United  States.  The  treatment  of  each  country  is 
from  the  standpoint  of  general  education,  and  the  account  is  based  on  the 
latest  information.  For  the  United  States  a  series  of  chapters  are  devoted 
to  the  Private  Commercial  School,  the  High  School  of  Commerce,  the 
Curriculum  of  the  Secondary  Commercial  School,  and  the  Higher  School 
of  Commerce.  The  final  chapter  gathers  up  the  discussion  in  a  statement 
of  conclusions  and  recommendations. 

An  appendix  furnishes  a  goodly  number  of  curricula  for  schools  of 
various  grades  both  at  home  and  abroad.  The  value  of  the  work  is 
further  increased  by  a  select  bibliography  of  the  subject,  including  nearly 
three  hundred  titles,  which  will  be  found  of  no  small  service  by  both  stu- 
dents and  teachers. 


THE    MACMILLAN    COMPANY 

64-66  FIFTH  AVENUE  NEW  YORE 

CHICAGO  BOSTON         SAN  FRANCISCO         ATLANTA  DALLAS 


Commercial  Correspondence  and  Postal 
Information  (Revised) 

BY   CARL   L.    ALTMAIER. 

Director  of  Department  of  Commerce  and  Finance, 

Drexel  Institute,  Philadelphia. 

Cloth.     i2mo.    Illuslrated.    252  pages.    $.70. 


This  book  belongs  to  that  type  of  texts,  happily  increasing  in  number, 
in  which  useful  information  is  given  in  simple,  concrete,  usable  form. 
The  old  edition  set  the  pace  for  books  of  its  kind  and  it  has  been  widely 
used  for  several  years.  In  the  new  edition  the  author  has  improved  the 
opportunity  both  to  effect  certain  advantageous  changes  and  to  make 
important  additions.  There  is  a  new  chapter  on  Letter  Filing  and  Card 
Indexing,  and  the  chapter  on  Postal  Information  has  been  re-written 
and  enlarged  to  include  the  latest  rulings  in  this  field. 

The  whole  purpose  of  the  book  is  to  help  the  student  to  write  a  good 
letter,  to  carry  on  a  successful  correspondence  in  the  commercial  field. 
There  is  a  chapter  on  the  importance  of  letter  writing,  another  on  the 
technique  of  a  business  letter,  a  third  on  the  composition  of  such  a  letter, 
and  others  on  letters  of  various  kinds.  One  chapter  is  devoted  to  the 
Making  of  Contracts  by  Mail  and  by  Telegram,  and  another  to  Tele- 
grams and  Cablegrams.  The  book  presents  in  interesting  form  just  the 
information  that  one  must  have  in  order  to  conduct  a  correspondence 
properly,  and  it  provides  for  sufficient  practice  on  each  point.  Practical 
questions  and  exercises  are  abundant  throughout. 

The  book  belongs  to  the  Macmillan  Commercial  Series  edited  by  Presi- 
dent C.  A.  Herrick  of  Girard  College. 


THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY 

64-66  FIFTH  AVENUE  NEW  YOEK 

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Business  Arithmetic   for   Secondary  Schools 

By  ERNEST  L.   THURSTON 
Superintendent  of  Schools,  Washington,  D.C 
Cloth,  i2mo,  illustrated,  4ji  pages.    $i.oo 


This  book  is  designed  for  use  in  those  schools  in  which  it  is 
desired  to  emphasize  the  practical  rather  than  the  merely  theoretical 
phases  of  the  subject.  The  principles  of  arithmetic  are  by  no 
means  neglected ;  in  fact,  the  simple  logical  development  and  state- 
ment of  these  principles  is  one  of  the  most  noteworthy  features  of 
the  book.  The  author  does  not  stop  here,  however,  but  goes  on  to 
show  how  arithmetic  is  used  in  the  actual  processes  of  business  life. 
The  book  not  only  furnishes  an  excellent  drill  in  arithmetical  prin- 
ciples and  processes,  but  it  introduces  the  student  to  business 
technique. 

Problems  are  original  and  vital  and  they  are  numerous  enough 
to  provide  abundant  practice  without  becoming  a  burden.  The  great 
variety  of  form  in  which  they  are  stated  serves  to  increase  interest 
and  to  emphasize  principles  rather  than  form  of  statement. 

Among  the  topics  of  common  interest  treated  are  rapid  adding, 
short  methods  in  multiplication,  averaging,  making  change,  house- 
hold expenses,  payment  for  service,  advertising,  aliquot  parts,  practi- 
cal measurements,  composite  units,  graphic  arithmetic,  insurance, 
savings  accounts,  bids  and  estimates. 

The  book  is  alive  from  beginning  to  end. 


THE    MACMILLAN    COMPANY 

64-66  FIFTH  AVENUE  NEW  YORK 

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